The Charm of Spring Flowers as Models for Embroidery - How to Arrange a Vase and Fill with the Blossoms - Materials Required - Daffodils, Primroses, Violets, and Snowdrops - The Lambstails or Catkins of the Hedgerow

"Spring, the sweet spring, is the year's pleasant king" - for there is little doubt that this season is truly a favourite one. What can be more exquisite than the early days of spring following so closely upon the gloom of winter? How greatly the lover of budding Nature delights in the spirit of promise which pervades the air!

All women love the flowers of spring. They are so gay and yet so sweet. The flaunting yellow daffodil beloved of Wordsworth is a woman's favourite, too. He writes:

A host of yellow daffodils, Beside the lake, beneath the trees. Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine. They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay. Ten thousand saw I at a glance Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

How delightful it would be to embroider these gay daffodils upon a cushion or a dainty cloth! It is most interesting if a woman is fond of Nature and her needle to portray some of her favourite spring flowers upon silk or muslin, using her needle just as an artist would use a paint-brush. It adds a new pleasure to a country ramble to search for spring flowers which, later, can be embroidered in all their beauty upon some dainty fabric. "Primrose tufts" and "budding twigs" are delightful subjects for the art of the needlewoman. The woman who loves Nature wanders happily along culling the beauty of the flowering springtime. She also adds the graceful snowdrop to her store: Down in a shady bed a modest violet grew, Its stalk was bent, it hung its head as if to hide from view.

But the bright purple flower is one of the most useful ones for the Nature lover who is also an adept with her embroidery needle.

This "lovely flower, its colour bright and fair," is carried home, and later its purple glory will embellish a dainty piece of needle-craft. Truly, spring flower embroidery can become a delightful pastime to the needlewoman who is also something of a poet at heart.

But now we must consider the practical working out of this spring flower embroidery. We will suppose the needlewoman has a bunch of spring flowers - daffodils, snow-drops, narcissi, primroses, and also that "budding twig" so much loved by children - the "catkin" or "lambstail."

First of all, there is the arrangement of the flowers for decorative embroidery - she will throw them carelessly down - daffodils, snowdrops, violets, narcissi, with some lambs-tails or catkins. and a few primroses.

She will fill an artistic vase with some of the flowers, arranging them loosely, so that colours will harmonise and not clash in any degree. She will next place her fabric upon a drawing-board, and lightly sketch the flowers in soft pencil in positions to suit her own particular requirements.

The Use Of The Design-Sheet

But it will be quite easy for the needlewoman, be she a town-dweller or a country recluse, to fill a vase full of sweet spring flowers for her embroidery by using the "spring-flower" design-sheet. We will imagine that the embroideress wishes to embellish a dainty muslin cushion-case for her drawing-room. These are delightful things, for they wash so well and always look fresh.

Take the square of muslin, and place it over the design so that first of all the vase can be traced upon the muslin with a soft

Needlework lead pencil. The embroideress can use her own judgment as to the position of the vase of flowers upon her cushion-cover, so she must arrange the muslin square with care. Now we come to the filling of the vase. Take the muslin and place it in a position on the design, so that a daffodil rests in the vase on the left-hand side. Trace this carefully in pencil. Move the muslin so that another daffodil rests in the vase; let the second daffodil stand a little higher in the vase than the first. Trace this flower carefully, see that the stem goes naturally into the vase. Remove the muslin on to the design-sheet so that a daffodil leaf or two can be traced on to the muslin; they must also rest naturally in the vase. Remove the muslin, and on the right-hand side of these flowers and leaves trace a narcissus and another leaf and a daffodil. Place any transparent fabric over the design-sheet, fill your vase by tracing the flowers after arranging the material into position as described. The vase is worked in two shades of Wedgwood blue.

These charming spring flowers and catkins can be worked so that they form a representative posy which will fill the vase here shown, and form a pretty design for a muslin cushion-cover. The muslin should be placed first over the vase, the form of which is traced and worked. It is then shifted similarly to each flower, leaf, or twig, as desired, so as to fill the vase

A vase of daffodils and white narcissus, a novel design, suitable for the corners of a tablecloth, a table-centre, or a cushion-cover

The vase is outlined in the darker shade, the design on the vase is worked in satin stitch in the two shades of blue. The stems of the flowers are worked in delicate greens, and the foliage is also worked in stem stitch in the same exquisite shades.

Outline the petals of the daffodils in satin stitch in two shades of yellow. The narcissus is worked solidly in white mallard floss, whilst the centre of the flower has a touch of golden brown filoselle. This design would look delightful on the four corners of a cloth or a table-centre. It would look very well on a cushion or cushion-case, and it would also be most effective on a "slip on" back for a lounge-chair.