Isn’t it just too tiresome when you want a particular bow to wear with a blouse, or a little lace collar that is just the right shape, and you look in vain through the drawer where you keep knick-knacks of this description. Then you know how the drawer gets all tumbled over, and you have finally to seize a bow that isn’t a bit the one you wanted, and rush off, to save being late for school. Have you ever been in a fix like that? If you have, you know all about it, and it is all the more annoying when you know all the time that the bow is there somewhere.

Now what is really the trouble here? Why the fact of the matter is the drawer is too big, and the little bow loses itself among the other things in the drawer.

Now what you want is a little compartment where you can keep your bows or collars (as the case may be) all to themselves. A cardboard box inside the drawer won’t last any time. No; the better plan is to make yourself a really pretty box, that can stand on your dressing-table. You see the sweet one illustrated, don’t you? Well, it will be a very simple matter for you to make one in the same way. The outside of this one is covered with a pretty flowered cretonne, of which pink and green are the principal colours, and it is lined with biscuit-coloured sateen. But you would, of course, make your box in the colours that will go best with your little bedroom. A flowered material is probably nicest for the outside, though plain material could be used. In any case, a deep cream is the best colour for the inside of the box.

To make a box the same size as the one here shown, you will want four pieces of thin cardboard 6 inches long by 5½ inches wide for the lid and bottom, four pieces 6 inches by 3 inches for the sides, and four pieces 5½ inches by 3 inches for the ends. Then you will want two pieces of cream sateen 7 inches by 6½ inches, and two pieces of flowered cretonne the same size, two pieces of cream sateen and two pieces of cretonne 7 inches by 4 inches, and two pieces each of sateen and cretonne 6½ inches by 4 inches.

The first step is to cover the cardboard pieces. This must be done very neatly. You will notice that the pieces of material are an inch larger each way than the cardboard they are to cover. When you lay a piece of cardboard on a piece of material there should be ½-inch of material all round, outside the cardboard, for turning over. Crease it over the edges of the cardboard all round, turning it in under again at the corners, as you see in the little picture. Start by taking a few stitches at the first corner, carry your needle on to the next corner, and again take a few firm stitches. When you have done all the corners, take a few long stitches from side to side, as you see in the illustration, to keep it secure.

You must now sew the covered pieces together. Take a cretonne-covered piece, place it against a sateen-covered piece of the same size, having the turned-in sides together, and oversew neatly all round. Do this with all the pieces. Now you have six neat little sections, each of which is cream one side and coloured on the other.

Your next task is to oversew five of these sections together to make a box. First sew the two side and two end pieces together, and then sew the bottom piece to all four, taking care that all the cream sides are inside and the coloured sides outside.

Before you sew the lid on, sew cord round all the edges with neat stitches, as you see in the picture. Green cord was used for this box, but you could use whatever colour goes best with your cretonne. Sew cord also round the edge of the lid.

All that now remains to be done is to fasten the lid to the box. This is done by oversewing on the inside the cord on one side of the box to that on the lid. You have now got not only a useful receptacle for your bows, etc., but a very pretty addition to your dressing-table. The size given is a very useful one, but you are not bound to make it this size if any other would suit your purpose better. For instance, if it is to hold handkerchiefs, a box that is square would be a better shape. But whatever size you decide on, see that each piece is cut and joined evenly, as this is most essential if the box is to be really a success.