Hosting a Homemaking Class

 

picture source: Country Porches

Homemaking classes are being quietly conducted in churches and homes throughout the nation. Each one is different, depending on the knowledge and experience of the teachers and the needs of the students.  If you have always wanted to attend a homemaking class, you can do it yourself by hosting a class once in your home. You do not need any kind of professional materials and you need not go to any expense. All you need is to have your house prepared for company, and a list of things you wish to talk about or demonstrate.



Woman in a French Interior, by Susan Watkins, American 1908

While each teacher will have a personal preference of the way in which it is taught, it is probably a good idea to include a little talk about the purpose of being a homemaker and the importance of doing a good job. Explain also that homemaking does not mean you have to be always working, but it does not mean you are free to do nothing just because you are home. Show how a homemaker balances her work time with leisure time. I once heard a woman explain it like this:

            You have to prepare meals, supervise the cleaning of the house, pay bills, and, throughout the day, keep a watch on your house to see that it stays orderly. Then, if your work is completed, you might be able to sit down and concentrate on some quiet activity such as a hobby or reading, or some special interest.



Edmund Blair Leighton

It is preferable if the students are accompanied by their mothers, so that all can participate and learn in a Titus 2 class. It would be good if the goal of the teacher was to send girls home with one new piece of knowledge about running a home, that would benefit their own homes and would free their mothers of some of the responsibilities and give them more time to spend on projects they have been wanting to complete.





Susan Rios

Home life can be portrayed as a life of variety. There is so much to do. One way of discovering the enormous amount of things there are to keep a homemaker busy full time, is to spend time with the class in making a long list of every possible thing they can think of to do at home, that has to do with homemaking. Explain that homemaking is not just washing dishes and sweeping floors or fixing meals. It is making a home beautiful and comfortable for others. It is keeping track of the family heirlooms and memories. It is making sure that that safety procedures are followed in all parts of the house. It is showing care and concern for other people in that house. Students can list seasonal things that are required in creating home life.  Home life also changes as children grow up and change their habits and needs.

A Quiet Moment by John O'Brien

Keeping house will keep homemakers busy, and that of course is part of God's plan to provide a place of importance for women in the church of Christ, to whom the verses in Titus are addressed. While not everyone will follow the mandate to teach the younger women to be good wives, mothers and homemakers, we can know for certain that it is something for Christian women.  Our example in doing this will win more people than arguments will.  Showing how it is done in a homemaking class can be more convincing, if the teacher can also transport to them the feeling of happiness she has at home.

Hosting a homemaking class need not be stressful. One woman I know, Mrs. L., has had one each month for a year, with a different theme.

Women do not need to think they have to know everything in order to teach a simple class. All they have to do is share an aspect of homemaking and make it interesting. For example, Mrs. J. demonstrated how to hold a broom and how to sweep and use a dust pan. That might seem trite to some people, but there are girls who grow up never having  learned this and are at a loss when it comes to housekeeping later.  Another woman showed her class how to wash dishes by hand, how to rinse them so that they would be free of soap, and how to dry them. She explained things about having the water hot enough and how much soap to put in. Simple, but still needed. She was also trying to show how to enjoy washing dishes and how to make the atmosphere of the kitchen pleasant while doing it. You can learn what to think about , and how to plan for future things,  while doing some of these tasks.

If you are unsure of yourself as a teacher, just consider it an act of hospitality and invite people as friends, to come to your home, where you will share something you know how to do.

Use the list your friends and students have made, to determine some subjects to present to your group. If you know no one and seem to have no one interested, try having something like this with your daughter.  You can serve tea in your finest cups and then get up and go about the tasks you have prepared to demonstrate.

Hosting a homemaking class need not be daunting. Have at least one room clean that you can seat your students, dress like a lady and wear an apron, have a special vase of flowers for the occasion, or bake something that smells good.  Some people just like to be invited to someone else's home to see how they do things, whether it is laundry or ironing, cooking or cleaning.

Feeding the Doves, by Sydney Muschamp, English 1870-1903

Teachers should be aware that there will always be those who will attempt to discredit them or dumb-down the class by distracting or behaving as though they are bored. There is usually one one person who is like this, but carries others off into that type of attitude. Others, even older women, may act rather superior to the whole idea that you have to teach homemaking to anyone. In the time that spans before the next class convenes, some negative type students may spread enough naysaying  that makes fewer people want to attend. There is a technique that has gone on for centuries where this is used. If you want to destroy an idea, a belief, or a way of life, create controversy around it, even if there is none. You might say "I've heard about marriage, but there is a lot of controversy surrounding it." That way, the hearer focuses on the fact that there is controversy (even if there is not).  Someone might say, "I have heard there is a cooking class, but there is some objection to it." There might be absolutely no objection to it, but the hearer will not want to be involved in anything that spells conflict, so will avoid the whole class. There are people who know from childhood how to work this kind of technique to destroy any attempt to make life better. 

Another thing that teachers will have to expect is that there will be a certain amount of rolling of the eyes and boredom. She should cover all this with introductory remarks which also are typed on paper that can be given out at each lesson. Make it short and memorable, stating that they should save their objections until the end of the class, and write them down, to be answered later. The reason for this, is that many of their questions and challenges will be answered just by observing the teachings.  The paper should state that no student should try to detract from the class if they want to be invited back, and that the teacher is giving freely of her time with no charge and is not obligated to accommodate dissention or undermining.  Some students will visit each other during the week and may indulge in gossip about the teacher or the class. This ought to be warned against by suggesting that if they do mention the class to anyone during the week or month between classes, that they should talk about it in a good light.

 If anyone remembers teaching the Fascinating Womanhood classes, there was a teacher's manual that was very well laid out with instructions for the teachers to read to the class, and they were also copied out and passed around for their notebooks. They were very kind in nature, and not difficult to follow. The list mentioned things like not arguing and not being close-minded. It explained that some people would already know some things that were taught, and that those things would not apply to them, but might be of interest to someone else. Everyone would be at a different level of maturity and a different stage in learning, and each one might glean something from the class.

In this day and age, such classes are rare, so , to be invited to attend one is a privilege and the hosting teacher should be treated with great appreciation. Girls are constantly being told to go to college, and the colleges actively recruit students. Recruiting campaigns through mail and telephone and other media are constantly launched to get girls interested in college. Rarely does anyone teach a class to get girls interested in marriage, children and homemaking. So, to be invited to one such class is not to be taken lightly. If a girl thinks she knows everything about homemaking and is invited to a class, she should try to attend just to encourage and help the teacher and the students. It will help build others up, as the Bible teaches.

A teacher might seriously consider only teaching one class, one day a year, or she might have several informal classes, seasonally, throughout the year.  She has to decide what she will be able to do.  Weekly classes can be too exhausting for some women, especially if they have pressing responsibilities at home.  Once a season, by invitation, might suffice. It all depends on the preference of the teacher.

Hamilton Collection

Hosting a Homemaking Class

Handling Trolls

Here are some isps  you can block, if you are having trouble with trolls

74.125.127.132   This is one that has had a lot of complaints about it and it is worth your while to block. The one who has it, has a lot of blogs and poses as many different bloggers.
others are:

174.27.32.174

69.89.31.217


72.233.2.12 to 14


12.2.233.72


  One of these is the   same isp number, forward and reverse,  that runs a number of blogs that vilify other homemakers, particularly those who want to write about the Titus 2 model or the Proverbs 31 woman and this is the isp number that is  known for online gossip about homemakers. The same isp number is responsible for the fake blogs out about me that have stolen photographs and stolen copyrighted photo from my book, "Just Breathing the Air." It is in violation of federal trade laws to do anything that causes the loss of anyone's financial business. If you are selling anything or have written books, your income can be adversely affected by blogs that are designed to destroy your reputation. They have cracked down on this kind of thing in places like Australia and England, and put some of these people to shame with prison sentences and community service.  One woman in Australia was convicted of attacking the reputation of a public figure ( model, I think) and her defense was that since the woman was a public figure, she had a right to do it, according to free access laws. She also claimed that she had actually helped the woman's business by putting out so much negative about her on the web. The court didn't buy it and she was sentenced.


The blocker site will allow you to type in your blog address and apply the numbers to it. It does cut down quite a bit on the negative traffic. Your stats will go down but it just makes you see how much of it was undesirable attention.




You can get a web blocker online that is free, that allows you a limited number of isps to block for free.
One that might work for you is Toolater.com which allows 3 numbers. There are other free ones online.


It does not prevent people from their blogs from viewing your site, but it does cut down on the amount of trolling that the blog owner does.


If you have been the target of these women please do not let them run you off the web. They have not matured past the junior high mentality of trolling people they want to discourage, even though some of them are way past that age and should be doing better things with their time than picking on others who want to enjoy sharing things on their blogs.


The above numbers are from a company in Plano, Texas, called Layered Technologies. I have talked to them on the phone and they have said that they sell numbers to clients and that it is one of their clients. They can send a complain to their client if this is the isp source that is bothering your blog or taking some of your writings and pictures and posting other blogs with them.


The reason that I am posting this number and its reverse, is that I hope one day to have a lot of links on my blog here to other homemakers and crafters, glitter and decorating sites. This troll will be visiting all my links and this is a way you can prevent some of the copying and vilifying that is going on.


Check your visitor statistics to find the source of some of your negative traffic, and then apply them to the isp blocker.

Trolls have been around for centuries. Long before the internet, there were discouragers and critics of people who were building things, teaching good things, creating and doing something for others.  Jesus certainly had his share of them, in the form of the Pharisees, who followed him around, questioning every word he said and trying to trap him into saying things a certain way. Sometimes he ignored them and sometimes he called them a brood of vipers.

The prophet Nehemiah had to post sentries around the area when he was rebuilding the temple, to keep people from discouraging the workers. The laborers had one hand on a sword and another hand building the structure.  This isp blocker and number is your sentry, if it is one of the people that is discouraging you.

If you can remember way back before the internet, there was always a discourager in the mix of friends, ever ready to pour cold water on a plan or ridicule an accomplishment.  They were the ones that would spread false things about you or steal from you. Christians need not be so surprised when they are attacked, as this is something that our Lord told us to expect.

Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Of course we must bless our enemies, so some bloggers happily bless their enemies with another fine post about the subjects they like, whether it be house and garden, painting, crafts, sewing, teaching, decorating, or reading.

Lessons of the Home From 19th Century Paintings

Teatime, by Frank Bourdillon, (English, born in India)  1851-1924

Click on the picture and then click again for a larger view.


In the first painting, there is much to observe. These 19th century paintings had a story to tell of domestic life. Our country life, especially while home schooling our children, tended to have some of these very scenes: an outdoor tea table, children feeding pets, a cottage flower garden, and a beautiful, simple life with a distant scene of sheep in a pasture.




Grandmother's Visit  Giclee Print

Barison, Giuseppe  Italy,  1853-1930 


I don't know if anyone else enjoys the 19th century paintings, but I put them here for the purpose of viewing the life of that era. Some of these artists were considered realists, whose paintings were precise and life-like, looking more real than other types of art,  and some of them recorded in their paintings the real life of the times.  For a closer look at details, click on the picture, and then, at the allposters site, click on again for a very large view.

In observing these paintings, there is much to be seen in the dark corners or the sunlit pathways.  Print out some of these pictures for your children, just to learn to appreciate the details of these realist artists. You might ask the following questions.

 What are the children looking at?

 Are the children standing or sitting or gesturing the same way children do today? (I say yes!Look at the way the little girl is standing--so similar to a little child today as she or he leans across the knees of his Mama).

Which person is the Grandmother and which one is the Mother?

What objects are lying on the floor?

Do you think it is warm weather?

Would the grandmother possibly be a widow?

What is the Mother doing?

Describe the clothes the people are wearing?  In what way are they similar today?

How can you identify the boy in the picture?  How are his clothes different?

Have you seen wallpaper similar to that which is on the wall? (My answer: Yes. It is available reprinted in Victorian style wallpaper books I have seen, as well as the luxury stack of scrapbook papers you can get today.)

Is the furniture and the trim on the doorway similar to that of today?

Has the Grandmother brought something for the children?

I believe the painting shows a moment of joy and contentment in a home where the mother is relaxed and enjoying her children around her, and especially enjoying what the grandmother is doing for the children.  It is these simple things which make home life memorable. The years seem to go by so fast, and no woman will ever regret the time she spent at home. There is so much to do, and that is one reason I am hoping to post more on how to have a Titus 2 class in your home. The women in the Lord's church were given a special assignment: to teach the younger women about family and home life.

So many women in their 50's and even 60's are now going into the workforce, where they find they have no time for anything outside of work. Even without children, I believe the home is the best place for women, free from the pressures of outsiders and the demands of business.

 As women get older, they need less stress in their lives,  not more, yet the world constantly beckons them from their homes, to enter the job force. God's people will always be different and in the minority.

Once you open the Internet, messages sometimes come up saying, "Obama wants homemakers to go to work," or "Obama wants homemakers to get an education."  All kinds of seemingly easy options present themselves to women at home, but we should instead say, "God wants older women to teach younger women to be wives, mothers and guides of the home."  God's word always supersedes man's words and man's will. No matter what our government says, we must obey God, and if we do, He will provide the way. It does take faith, and faith is "the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 1:1

No matter what the government wants women to do, we should be asking, "What does God want us to do, according to His word?"  When someone wants to send a woman to work, her first questions should be, "How will I get my home in order and how will I obey the scriptures if I leave my home to work for others?"  Too often, women ask, "How will we make it financially if I stay home?" but that is a worldly question. There will of course, be exceptions, but exceptions are not the norm. There have always been women who have for some reason or other, lost a provider or lost a home, and must find ways to provide, but even they, if they are followers of the Lord, must get as close to the model He provides in the scriptures, as they can.

I believe we can learn a lot from the paintings of the past, and that is why I use them in my posts. The women look calm and at home in their roles, in these paintings, and totally concentrating on their families.

The life depicted in these paintings, life that was once more prominent than it is in our busy, mechanized world, can be reproduced simply by allowing women to be home. The widow, as portrayed here, has time to visit her grandchildren. The mother has time to sit and mend. They are unhurried. They are enjoying the moment. When we say seek the old paths, we mean these kinds of things. When women work for others outside the home, these moments are not plenteous, and housekeeping becomes mechanical, as they struggle to get things caught up before heading off to work again.  These pleasant household moments can be created today by that one practice of women staying home.

Create A Quiet Place

Summer Shade from the Miramax Movie Emma

from Soft Surroundings catalog

A place between two lilac trees makes a good spot for a day time tent.

Continuing from a previous lesson about the importance of young women creating their own quiet places, here is something that is  uncomplicated to make, requiring no special tools or expertise. This is a tent made with sheets and clothespins, that can be constructed in warm weather.

Just attatch the sheets at your own height. No chairs or step stools or ladders are necessary.Pin one corner of a sheet to another corner to pull back an openning.

Place some comfortable cushions inside. Scroll down for a picture of the finished tent,

For this project, you will need a dollar store shower curtain for the ground, a quilt, 3 or 4 flat sheets and 2 or 3 fitted sheets, plus a lot of clothespins.  Find a location between large bushes or small trees, or anywhere that the sheets can be hung. You might also be able to do this between two clotheslines.

 The fitted sheets are attached first, with clothespins, across the top of the bushes, to make a roof. Just pin the edges of the fitted sheet on to slender twigs.

 After you have completed the roof, add the walls with sheets on the sides, leaving one side open for a doorway.

 Place the plastic shower curtain on the ground and add the quilt or blanket for the floor. Use a clothespin to anchor the hems of the sheets to the quilt  floor in certain spots.

 If the twigs are too wide for the clothespins, just loop parts of the sheet around the twigs and pin the sheets together with the clothespins.

These are the fitted sheets pinned to the overhead branches for the roof, from the inside of the tent. You do not need to stretch them out too flat, as the loose shape gives the inside roof a nice billowy look.

Use a clothespin to pin up one wall to provide a window. Unpin it to let it down when the sun comes in. Pin back the sides of the entrance if you like. When such a tent is attached to tree boughs, it does not have to   be uniform or evenly hung, but it provides a temporary place  for a mini-vacation at home.

Adjust the sheets (or curtain panels, or tablecloths) to make it even on the sides, then clothespin the ends to the quilt and liner.  Choose a sheltered spot for this, as it is only a temporary structure for a day.

Quietness is an important part of keeping the mind and the soul healthy. Home teachers need to be sure that children have quiet time each day, when all noise ceases and each person spends time alone, either on their own beds or in separte places in the house. They may not appreciate it at first, but eventually will think it is the greatest time of their lives.

Here is one I added the next day, using the back of the previous tent for one of the walls:

The lower hem of the sheets is attached with clothespins to the blanket, and of course there is a shower curtain from the dollar store underneath that. You could also use plastic table cloths and put the flannel side up and place the quilt on top of that. On this tent, I tied strong string around twisted bits of the fabric and then attached the other end to the branches, giving the roof a more pointed look in various areas.

This is the real life of luxury, and there was no need to go anywhere. I plan to make two more of these for my tent city.

Check out this pretty lace tent.
View some other kinds of interesting and colorful tents here.  Scroll down on this soothing blog that has lace panels on a tent like area  here. Check this one out too. Look here too... and have a look at this Cath Kidston tent. and one from Mary Jane's Farm. Be sure to view her slideshow. Look near the end of this page for one done on a porch.

from Outdoor Shabby

A tent from this new book:

Another adorable tent for children here.

A concept using sheer fabrics

Go to my other post on sheet tents!

19thCentury Clothing in Photographs

Making A Home Anywhere: Lessons for Young Ladies

The Homecoming by Jennie Brownscombe, American 1850-1936  Click on the picture for a larger view.

Art by Susan Rios
(This artist's  “favorite things” are wicker chairs,  pretty tablecloths, lace, vintage china and teapots, and bird
and butterfly objects.)

I have been lately stressing to young ladies who live at home with their parents how important it is to learn every aspect of home life, so that they can one day easily settle in to their own homes and confidently make a home for their families. 

Sometimes young girls do not realize that their parents may have begun their first home with nothing, or very little in the way of material things. They may need to learn how to make a home anywhere, and make home living important. Even if they expect to be well-off,  they should at least be prepared to live in reduced circumstances if they have to. I think it is important to prepare for a hard life, rather than an easy one, and to know how to be resourceful (finding resources from other things) and make many things from basic ingredients, and how to substitute when they do not have everything they want. 

Her Retreat by Susan Rios

 (I like how these artists put paintings inside their own paintings.)

Southern Hospitality

Liang, Kevin

When I was very young, my family, and others like us in those circumstances during homestead days, lived in tents while our houses were being built. In spite of that, our mothers rolled up the bedding each day (which we then used as seating), swept the floor, shook out all the towels and clothes and hung them on hooks, cooked meals, washed dishes, washed clothes, and in general made life happy and pleasant. While not everyone will have to do this in their lives, they should prepare for it in case they have to do it.  Not everyone will begin with a big, furnished house. Quite a lot of good information can be gleaned from homestead sites on the web, and of course, it depends upon the teachers and the kinds of things they wish to provide for their classes. Every homemaking class is different and people do things their own way, depending on their climate and their needs.



Some commenter's spoke of making a home in the most humble circumstances, and I have enjoyed looking at the little trailer that was fixed up here, http://rosevinecottagetwo.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-camper.html  as well as visiting her links which show creative ideas for fixing up old things, as well as using fabrics and natural resources to make the family feel rich while living within their incomes. Another camper can be seen here, which is called a Cottage on Wheels.

A Homemaking Class

Although I have taught a lot of homemaking classes, I had never attended a Titus 2 class taught by anyone else,( which is a time when older women teach younger women how to guide their homes and become good wives, mothers and homemakers),  and when I received an invitation from a lady to come and observe her first class, I gladly went. It was more than I expected!  I travelled quite a ways from my home and was so pleasantly greeted by this lovely Victorian Farm House with its pretty porch and oval window door. Nearby was the soothing sound of a creek, where the hostess can go for rest and relaxation.

Having grown children, Mrs. J. now looks after the needs of her husband's parents and her own parents, and yet wants to share some of her life with young girls. There were 5 students in this class, including one of the mothers who wanted to learn alongside her daughters. The girls were just delightfully eager to learn. Mrs. J. began with a well-set tea table which I would like to describe to you. She had a floral oval cloth on her oval table, and on top of that she laid a white see-through lace cloth, giving  a wonderfully Victorian look of depth, fullness and warmth to the table.  I had never done this with a printed table cloth, but the effect was so beautiful that I am eager to try it.

 Each tea setting was from her collection of tea cups which she had procured from yard sales, antique stores, and second-hand stores, and the young ladies felt so special being offered such pretty vessels to drink from. Mrs. J. showed them how to drink from the cup and hold the saucer close to catch any drips. She served a light, fluffy scone with cream and jam and explained a little of the technique of making perfect scones: do not over-work your dough, but pat it gently after kneading it only 6 or 7 times. 

Our hostess is using a book called "Polished Cornerstones," which she let us look through, and which is well worth the investment, for it covers all aspects of life at home. Her lesson began with instructions about modest dressing, and modest sitting. After demonstrating how to sit on a tall stool in a kitchen, a regular chair and yes, the carpet or ground, each student was allowed to practice and see if they could do it. She showed how you could be modest when sitting in all these places, and how a long skirt could help you sit more modestly in all situations. She was wearing a pretty blouse and a long skirt and apron.

Mrs. J. then took us on a tour of her kitchen, where she had things set up in what she called stations. Her baking ingredients were in top shelves, where she had installed lowering spice racks and her baking equipment and pans were directly underneath in the lower cabinets. She had a drink station, a dinner station, formal dinner station, and other places where she had organized her kitchen with helpful slide-out organizing units to store  her kitchen things more  efficiently, all from a Lowe's store in her area.  

Organizers help keep the baking station neat.

She showed each student how to hold a broom and angle it to sweep the floor effectively, and instructed them on other things concerning sweeping.

When the kitchen tour was completed, Mrs. J. took her students upstairs to the sewing room, where she gave the first lesson in sewing, and began their first project, a bag in which to hold a travel iron,  after learning to thread a sewing needle and tie the knot.  As an iron is a companion to sewing, this is a useful container that will serve her students well.

Door racks and pull-out drawers make it easy to store things, find them, and keep them neat.

Married in 1969 at the age of 18, Mrs. J. and her husband have spent nearly 40 years developing their dream home. In the beginning, when her husband was earning $200.00 a month, they rented a garage to live in, in which they bought only the bare necessities to live on, and that did not include a phone. However, as time went by, they prospered from this frugality: Mrs. J. says,

Five years later in 1975 we were able to afford our first down payment on a fixer-upper house. We improved the house with a new roof, half a house room addition, fence, veg. garden, a postage stamp orchard of fruit trees and a concrete driveway, paint and stucco on the outside of the home. I planted trees in the front yard for shade and privacy because we lived on a busy street.
We drove old fixer-upper cars because my husband was handy at repairing them. I sewed many of mine and our child's clothes and my husband was able to save some money every payday. We didn't eat out much or go to movies. We entertained our children and made our own fun. Holidays were special and we made a big deal out of baking, and making handmade gifts and cards.


In 2005 we designed and built our final home using home plan magazines. We found a home plan we liked and tweaked the plans to customize the house for our needs. Then we contacted a draftsman to draw up the blueprints according to our design. I had 40 years to plan where everything would go, how we would use the house right down to the way I wanted the kitchen arranged. It had to be a large kitchen because we planned on having a large garden and orchard. I loved the cottage style farm houses of the Victorian era so I designed the house to appear Cottage Victorian with wood gingerbread trim and fish scale siding over the front porch peak. We found a contractor who gave us a bid we could work with and a time frame to look forward to.

The drink station as everything she needs to make tea or cool drinks, without having to walk to distant places in the kitchen to gather supplies.

We need to know the stories of how people have built their lives and their homes, not all of a sudden, but patiently, over time, with goals in mind.  This is a great encouragement to people, and they should also know, that even in the tiny garage apartment they can live a beautiful life and create good memories. Much of this depends upon the woman, who puts a lot of time and effort into making a home homey and creating family dinners and special moments. Mrs. J. has been a homemaker from a very young age, and yet, she still was able to have a home and the things that mean the most to a woman. Her husband gladly earned the living from the age of 21, and she carefully looked after their income, looked after their children, and created contentment even in the poorest of circumstances.  This was the first Titus 2 class she had taught, and I thought she had an excellent presentation.

View of her kitchen.

During the sewing class, she invited me to share a homemaking scrapbook that I had made for my daughter between the years of 7 and 11.   There were no scrapbook materials as we know them, available at the time, so I put together some pretty typing papers and did the best I could at the time.

This is the cover, decorated with an advertisement for a plate, from a magazine, and holes punched to thread ribbon through. The book looks old and faded but at the time it was made, the quality of the papers was not high, and things available to us such as glues and acid-free supplies, were limited.

Little handmade dividers glued in to show the different subjects in the notebook.

From a sewing pattern, she made a pair of felt skates for a doll. You recognize the fold-out house card here, as I have given a printable pattern for it earlier on this blog. The fan came from directions in a pioneer girls book. 

From a quilting magazine, she learned to make different

kinds of patterns. She did not make entire quilts at this stage, but enjoyed trying different blocks. This is a block called "Windmill."

This was from a Victorian doll dress pattern, where she learned to stitch tucks, sew a set-in puffed sleeve, do cuffs, collar, and add trim.

We scrapbooked different decorating styles,

and found things in magazines about foods and cooking.

She learned to crochet, and knit, just a sample. The crocheted item is a circle, the same as a doily, with a ribbon threaded through the holes to make a doll hat.

Learning to teach a Bible lesson to little children, we

saved several patterns and samples so that she could be prepared if she

ever needed to help.

Example of a child's Bible class craft depicting a house where the doors and windows all open to reveal an indoor scene.

Landscaping was included, as well as architecture. In those days we had no access to copy machines, so the favorite architecture and house designs were kept in the books.

We created a pocket in the back page, where we tucked pages from magazines that had instructions on the other side.

Our hostess allowed me to share this book, and hopefully with the marvellous scrapbook materials available these days, the girls will save samples of their own work in pretty memory books.

More of Mrs. J.s Home:

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Summer Roses

by Edmund Blair Leighton

This site helps you turn web pages into printer-friendly pages easily, and it is free. I typed in Home Living and it brought up the article only, without all the sidebar things.  If you are having any problems getting printed pages here, this site should work.