M IS S IO N S continued
Help for the Leper so that the chest is well covered, and no sleeves. These can be made with odd scraps of different colored wool, also in colored knitting cotton — 60 or 70 crochet thread — knitted on No. 3 or No. 4 needles, as this texture keeps its shape better. These work out a little less expensive, and are very suitable, particularly in some climates. They can also be made out of flannelette or flannel. A sug gested pattern for these can be had on application. BLANKETS. Make these of large pieces of woolen material cttt from used coats or skirts, etc. These must be well stitched together, some made to cot size, 3 ft. x 4 ft., and some for adults, which would be about 4 ft. x 8 ft. If lighter woolen material is If you have no contact with a mission ary organization which is in need of these supplies, send them to Leper and Medical Crusade, Box A, Fort Washington, Penn sylvania, or they will be happy to supply you with names and addresses of the missionaries and fields. They have found that repacking and sending supplies out with those going to the fields as far as possible save the missionaries duty on these much-needed articles. DRESSES, for girls and women. We suggest a pattern for these with round neck and no sleeves. Be careful not to cut the neck too wide on the shoulders; it is better that the opening should be deeper than wider. The neck and arm holes can be bound with a contrast ing color. The dress has a plain loose top and skirt gathered on it below the waistline. These should be made of strong, sun-proof cotton ma terial to stand hard wear and wash ing. These can be made to fit chil dren of all ages, up to full-sized women, but it is important to cut them in the right proportion. For the very large sizes, it might be well to put a dart on the shoulder to allow fullness in front. These can be checked up with normal sizes; viz., bust, hips and length, in use here at home. SKIRTS. These are useful for Afri can girls and women patients to wear made up for cot blankets, these could be lined with a cotton mater ial.
I re you looking for something that you can-do to help the mission- ionaries, something in addition to your prayer ministry and giving? Here are some suggestions for prac tical help for the leper and medical work for young warrior bands, work ing parties, sewing circles, women’s meetings, etc. COLLECT CLEAN LINEN. Any used white cloth, no matter how old, is useful for dressings and band ages. This, however, must be clean and ironed. Pieces of any size, no matter how small, are useful. KNIT ROLL BANDAGES. Use white or unbleached cotton. A suit able cotton is Woolworth’s Knitting cotton, called Woolco, 4-ply. Knit on No. 2 needles. It is good to knit fairly loosely in the garter stitch. This should be 2 in. wide, 254 in. wide, or 3 in. wide, and can be of var ious lengths, but not less than 2 yards. For 2-inch width, cast 19 stitches on needle; for 254-inch width, cast on 23 stitches, and for 3-inch width, cast on 27 stitches. KNIT DIAMONDS for fixing dressings with white or unbleached knitting cotton same as above. 4-ply keeps its shape better. Knit on No. 1 or No. 2 needles. These are made in garter stitch beginningwith 2 stitches, increasing 1 at the end of each row by knitting twice into the last stitch (front and back) until the desired width is reached; • (in this case, with this cotton and size needle, 45 stitches are on the needle.) Knit 4 or 5 rows without increasing; then commence decreasing by casting off 1 stitch at the end of each line. We suggest this method of increasing and decreasing because it gives a firm edge to the diamond. A tape of about ‘/¿-yard is then fixed at each end i.e., where you begin and where you end, so that it is on the cross and fits well. The tape must be long enough to go around the limb to fix the dressing, cross over the back, and be brought around to tie in front. These should be made in various sizes, say up to: 40 stitches, 45 stitches, and 50 stitches. The most useful is 45 stitches. VESTS. Make vests of any kind of wool, in any color, or even in a knitting cotton, to fit a child of a few months old to children of 6 or 7 years old. These should be knitted with a crocheted edge around the neck, with a cord to pull up, 28
at work in the garden. Make a plain straight skirt from the waist to the knees, with a hem top and bottom, and cord or elastic drawn through the top hem for the waist. Dark, strong, cotton material is most use ful for these (for a woman; length 24 to 26 in.) BAGS. Make these of cotton ma terial about 10 x 18 in. with a string at the top to hold Bible, hymn book, pencil, etc. We can use many of these bags. APRONS for the nurses. Make these of white calico with a strap to go over the head and cut away under the arms to tie at the back as per sketch. The length when finished should be 33 in. and the width across the top of the bib should be 8 in. and straps about 26 in. long. ADDED SUGGESTIONS. Dress ings can be made from gauze — any size from 154 to 5 in. square. The pat terns for these are made of 16 pieces of cardboard a little smaller than the size of the dressing desired; the card board is cut and the pieces hinged together with adhesive tape on both sides of the cardboard, wide enough to make hinges between each sec tion of cardboard. Gauze is cut the size of the pattern and then laid, on powdered pattern. (Powdered to keep gauze from clinging to tape.) Each side is then folded toward center; when each side is folded in and all the threads concealed, they, are folded again so that the finished dressing is size of one square. These are needed badly for wipes for eyes and sores and used also as dressings on sores. OLD GREETING CARDS can be used in children’s work, along with pencils, buttons, small rulers, note books, safety pins, etc. Scrapbooks are very useful. MUSLIN BANDAGES. These are made of old muslin sheets or pillow slips in any width, but the 254, 3, and 354-inch widths are most in de mand. Muslin must be tom — not cut as these bandages must be washed over and over and rerolled and if not tom they are very uneven and hard to roll. Bandages should be rolled very tightly, such as those purchased at the drugstores, other wise they are hard to handle. The roll when finished should be about 254 or 3 in. in diameter and all rolls should be the same as nearly as possible. This makes packing so much more simple. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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