STITCHERY has of late come back to a place of honour among crafts. We actually sew, very often, not just because we must, but because we take joy in creating well-made garments or producing decorative pieces for our homes. There is little likelihood that we shall ever go back to the spending of hours on end putting in invisible stitches in lengthy seams and hand-hemmed frills by the yard, but we are realising that hand-stitchery can create beauty as definitely as any other handcraft.

There is another point to be realised, which is that very few of us become expert at any craft by instinct ; if we wish to learn to paint, or to model, for instance, we find out as much as we can about the tools to use and the correct way to use them, and the materials we shall need. Needlecraft is no exception ; sewing is not just a question of a needle and cotton, but of which needle and what kind of cotton, and how to employ them when you have chosen rightly.

In this book you will find questions like this dealt with is fully as space allows. Plain sewing, hand embroidery, dressmaking, and mending stitches and processes are described, and as many as possible are pictured for you. Study them carefully and you will gain all the knowledge you need to become a master of your very interesting craft.

In addition to sewing, embroidery, dressmaking, and mending, there will be found many admirable sections on the various crafts so popular to-day. These crafts, of which there is a large variety, offer pleasant and often profitable work which any one, with the aid of a few simple tools, can undertake in the home.

The various sections are illustrated with plates, many of which, in the case of needlework, have been prepared from specimens specially worked in France.