The Masterpiece with Illustration by Elizabeth Shippen Green

The Masterpiece – Girl Sewing Illustration by Elizabeth Shippen Green
from The book of the little past, 1910 by Josephine Preston Peabody

The Masterpiece
by Josephine Preston Peabody from The book of the little past, 1910

Mother cut it out for me,
And started it, so I could see;
And then she turned some edges in,
And let me take it to begin.
I made it. But I did not know
How very long it takes to sew.
I took a long time for that stitch;
And now it’s there, I don’t know which
Is better. But not one is small,
And they are not alike at all.
That side was very hard to fix.
And then, the needle always pricks:
But you must hold it, and take care,
Because the point is always there;
And knots keep coming by and by;
And then, no matter how you try.
The thread comes out of its old eye!

But some way, now I have it done,
I think it is a Pretty One.