A SPRIG OF FLOWERS

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Materials Required:—

A little thin cardboard, wools of various bright colors, milliner's wire, a small darning needle, scissors.

Figs. 5 to 9.

This can be made very much as the second woollen ball is made. You take a circle of cardboard again, but rather a smaller one about two inches across (a small ink bottle or an egg-cup would give about the right size); and cut in it a round hole about as big as a dime. Wind bright-colored wool through the hole and over the cardboard very evenly, using a darning needle because it is such a small hole. Wind on wool until all the cardboard is covered evenly. Then take a piece of wire about six inches long, or a hairpin will do if straightened out. You can do this by holding the ends tightly in each hand and rubbing the pin backwards and forwards against the edge of a table. At one end of the wire bend it, so that it makes a little loop, the smaller the better. Now begin with green wool to wrap round the wire, covering in the loop first, and when you have covered in the whole loop wind the wool over the end of the bent piece again, and bind it tightly to the other portion, and go on down the wire for some distance. With another hairpin (not straightened out this time, but bent as much to a point as possible) or another piece of wire bent like a V, tie the green wool at the bend, and wind in and out from one side of the wire to the other, first letting the sides go wide from each other and then gradually tightening them together, till you have them closed again and they become a leaf shape. Bind this leaf into the first wire stem, and add more leaves if you wish. Now wind over the first two fingers of your left hand some yellow or dark-colored wool about a dozen times, and take the end of the wool and tie it through when you withdraw your fingers, as in making the first woollen ball. Hold these loops tight from this knotted part, and wind the end of the wool round till it is like Figure 6, a little tassel; take your darning needle and sew this tassel into the hole in the circle of cardboard so that it makes a center for your flower, and sew the cardboard flower to the loop at the end of the wire. You can make two or three small tassels for this center if you like, and bind them first around the loop so that they fill up the hole in the cardboard quite tightly. More tassels can be made and tied to wires and bound into the main wire stem like little buds. These sprigs look very pretty when worn in hats, and they will not spoil with the rain: you can also put a large spray in a vase when you cannot get real flowers.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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