  One day in early spring Margaret was making up her doll’s bed with its clean white sheets and pillow-slips. “Dear child, it seems to me you are not warm enough this weather. You should have a warm blanket to sleep under. I’ll ask Mother for something to make one,” she said. Smiling fondly at her child, Margaret went to see what her mother might have in her piece-box that could be used to make a tiny blanket. “This will make you a pretty blanket,” she said. Then she turned to her work-basket and called, “Sir Bodkin! Please bring out the One-Eyed Fairies!” “Yes! Yes! My Lady!” he answered sliding quickly out of the basket. “You now know all of us; which shall it be to-day?” All the other shining Fairies were following him. They danced and pranced out of the needle-book very happy to be called. “Baster, first,” said Margaret importantly. “I’m making a blanket for my doll’s bed and I want to baste the hem at the top and the one at the bottom. Then perhaps you will tell me the best way to sew them to stay.” Sir Bodkin leaned far over the edge of the table to get a better look at the tiny blanket. “Is it the right length and width for the bed?” he asked Margaret. “Oh, yes. I measured that before I called Catch-stitch “Very good. You do not need to turn the hems down but once. Flannel will not ravel much if quickly held by catch-stitching,” said he. Margaret and Baster soon had the hems basted. “What is ‘catch-stitching’?” Margaret asked Sir Bodkin. “A stitch used to hold a hem down flat and keep the goods from ravelling. You can also use it for a trimming sometime, if want to. You’ll need the Crewel One to help you do this stitching. He’ll show you how. It’s very easy and pretty,” he said. The Crewel One stepped forward and asked for some wool floss in his eye. “Either pink, Margaret cut some pink floss the proper length and squeezed a tiny loop to put in his eye. When harnessed, he told Margaret to hold the hem over her left forefinger. She took him in her right fingers. He stepped to the hem and sang: “Coming towards you as I step Away from you I hop. First on the blanket, then the hem, Go backward, do not stop. Evenly I step along And leave a crisscross track, Which catches fast the blanket hem, To do this is a knack. Be sure to fasten tight the floss At both the ends, my dear, Or when it’s put into the wash It might come out, I fear.” They worked busily along each hem. “Oh! how pretty and easy!” cried Margaret when the little blanket was finished. “How sweet the pink stitches look on the white flannel at each end.” Then she said to her doll, “Come to me, dear, and I’ll put you to sleep in your little bed underneath your pretty, warm, new blanket.” She was so busy tucking in her doll and singing her to sleep that she did not thank Sir Bodkin and the One-Eyed Fairies or notice what they were doing. With a hop, a skip, and a jump each “We must scrape off our dullness and brighten ourselves a bit,” said their King standing by to see that every one got a turn. Then, in the firelight, they danced and pranced to their hearts’ content on Margaret’s table, to show how glistening and shining they were again. Soon to their needle-book bed they all slipped away for a good night’s sleep. |
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