Needlework, Practical and Decorative

Needlework, as a school subject, includes such varied occupations as sewing, cutting and shap­ing, and knitting. In this book, which is in­tended as a guide to teachers, these subjects are developed in so far as they may be presented to pupils in elementary or secondary schools and continuation classes. No pretence is made to deal with elaborate or intricate work such as might be required of advanced or professional workers.
The methods of work suggested are as simple and straightforward as possible, so that the pupils may be enabled to reason out what they are doing and so become prepared, if need be, to attempt intelligently much more difficult tasks.

An effort is made to connect the school needle­work lesson with the home life, and with the other subjects studied in school.
The material of the book is arranged so as to avoid laying down hard-and-fast rules with regard to non-essential things, but rather to suggest to the teacher means of accommodating her work to varying circumstances.
For the sake of clearness, Sewing, Cutting Out, Decoration, and Repairing have been dealt with in separate sections, although in practical work they cannot be separated. In each section, the possibility of gradation from the simplest elements to the most difficult is made clear.