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Sew   Listen
verb
Sew  v. i.  (past sewed; past part. sewn; pres. part. sewing)  To practice sewing; to work with needle and thread.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Sew" Quotes from Famous Books



... promise me a thing before ever he saw me? I call that a strange thing to ask a person. No, to-day, while we were promenading; and I should hear him sing, he said. He does admire his Chloe so. Why, no wonder, is it, now? She can do everything; knit, sew, sing, dance—and talk! She's never uneasy for a word. She makes whole scenes of things go round you, like a picture peep-show, I tell her. And always cheerful. She hasn't a minute of grumps; and I'm sometimes a dish of stale milk fit ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... away, was an ordeal; she had failed to conceal that she thought the initiation and annual fees extravagant. She knew no other bliss like having Bartley sit down in their own room with her; it did not matter whether they talked; if he were busy, she would as lief sit and sew, or sit and silently look at him as he wrote. In these moments she liked to feign that she had lost him, that they had never been married, and then come back with a rush of joy to the reality. But on his club nights she ...
— A Modern Instance • William Dean Howells

... glass eyes, the ruffian!" he muttered to himself, "but I will not have the mockery. I will fill the sockets and sew up the eyelids, and the face shall be as of ...
— What's Mine's Mine • George MacDonald

... piece of construction paper down the middle, so as to form the 3-1/2x6-1/2-inch cover. In the same way crease the manila paper for the leaves. Place the leaves within the cover; with heavy silk or fine twine sew them to the back. Bring the needle through one inch from the upper edge, one inch from the lower edge, and in the middle. The long stitch is on the inside, the two short ones are on the outside, both ...
— Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools • Virginia McGaw

... and, as soon as she became unconscious, they were going perhaps to take some terrible precaution—" Hanaud paused for a second. "I only say perhaps as to that. But certainly they were going to sew her up in that sack, row her well out across the lake, fix a weight to her feet, and drop her quietly overboard. She was to wear everything which she had brought with her to the house. Mlle. Celie would have disappeared for ever, and left not ...
— At the Villa Rose • A. E. W. Mason

... closed his eyes and composed his limbs," said Bianchon. "When the certificate has been officially registered at the Mayor's office, we will sew him in his winding sheet and bury him somewhere. What do you think we ought ...
— Father Goriot • Honore de Balzac

... one of honest industry. Every citizen has to earn his living, and his work is paid for with the tin currency of the republic. Half of the day is devoted to work, the other half to recreation. The boys are employed in farming and carpentry; the girls sew, cook, and so on. The rates of wages vary from 50 cents to 90 cents a day according to the grade of work. Ordinary meals cost about 10 cents, and a night's lodging the same; but those who have the means and the inclination may have more sumptuous meals for 25 cents, or board at ...
— The Land of Contrasts - A Briton's View of His American Kin • James Fullarton Muirhead

... REVERSE COUCHING—Showing the parallel lines of couched linen thread which sew down the silk upon the surface (Illustration 54). The zigzag pattern of the stitching might equally well have ...
— Art in Needlework - A Book about Embroidery • Lewis F. Day

... knew it. They knew only her law of service and love. They must love each other, whatever happened. There was no quarrelling at meals at Kate's house. Rose must of course oblige her brother, sew on the button, or take his book to the library; Wolf must always protect the girls, and consider them. Wolf firmly believed his sister and cousin to be the sweetest girls in the world; Rose and Norma regarded Wolf as perfection in human form. They rarely met ...
— The Beloved Woman • Kathleen Norris

... is the last, and there is the board on which my husband used to sew shoes, wax and all. Now I will go to fryin' my doughnuts, and you and I can be workin' away at the same time, and I'll tell ye who I am. ...
— In The Boyhood of Lincoln - A Tale of the Tunker Schoolmaster and the Times of Black Hawk • Hezekiah Butterworth

... sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle beside the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the dead. Bow and arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin to patch them if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches with, together with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the graves by the North American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the corpse flint, steel, and tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A coin was placed in ...
— English Villages • P. H. Ditchfield

... let your papa get seasick or any kind of sick on this trip, with his going-on about hisself, right away my whole trip is spoilt. Ray, if you don't get up and sew in them cuffs and collars on your coat don't expect as I will do it for you. For my part you can travel just ...
— Every Soul Hath Its Song • Fannie Hurst

... so well satisfied with his understanding, that he would not stand in any other man's shoes for any consideration; and so long as the CRISPINS will make him fits which are not convulsions, and will sew in a way which shall produce no crop of corns, and remind him, by the neatness of their work, of Lovely PEGGY, it is the intention of the Senor PUNCHINELLO to patronize the Native American ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 17, July 23, 1870 • Various

... Preciosa, "count upon your fortune as if it were already told, and provide yourself with another; or else sew no more gussets until I come again on Friday, when I will tell you more fortunes and adventures than you could read in ...
— The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... sit down; and indeed they rejoiced in him and were amazed at his charms and loveliness, especially the hunchback who was confounded at his beauty of form and favour. Presently he said to the Gobbo, "I desire that thou sew me up my pocket;" and the tailor took a needleful of silk and sewed up his pocket which he. had torn purposely; whereupon Ibrahim gave him five dinars and returned to his lodging. Quoth the tailor, "What thing have I done for this youth, that he ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton

... fingering the strap affectionately, as though he was going to lift it off my head, "you let me take it away with me. I've got men in this ship, who can mend a cut leather strap as neat as you've no idea of. They'd sew up a cut like them so as you'd hardly know it had ...
— Martin Hyde, The Duke's Messenger • John Masefield

... very far from being fine young ladies. Assisted by Biddy, their only domestic, they attended to all the household affairs, cooked and baked, milked the cows, made butter and cheese, fed the poultry, worked in the garden, but still found time to stitch, sew, and darn, and make their mother's and their own dresses, as well as clothes for their father and brother, while they did not neglect the culture of their minds, aided by their father, who had brought a small library with him, which had been increased ...
— Hendricks the Hunter - The Border Farm, a Tale of Zululand • W.H.G. Kingston

... slavery of the brain, to remain hypnotised by some point in the past, instead of trying to follow Proteus in his course—the life of change. One picks up the old skin which the young snake has thrown off long ago, and tries to sew it together again. These pedantic admirers of old revolutions believe that those of the future will be made on the same lines. They will not see that the new liberty must have a gait of its own, and will overleap barriers before which its grandmother of ninety-three ...
— Clerambault - The Story Of An Independent Spirit During The War • Rolland, Romain

... air-philosophy and element-philosophy grew up—beast-worship, animalism, fire-worship, and the rudiments of simple scientific learning, as, for instance, when men found that they could make a tool to cut, a spike to sew. ...
— The Warriors • Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown

... I've got is yours and the child's, and you know it, Mary Carew," and the good-hearted chorus-lady, with a reproachful backward glance at her room-mate, flounced out the door, leaving the re-assured Mary to sew, by the light of an ill-smelling lamp, until her return from ...
— The Angel of the Tenement • George Madden Martin

... for auntie. It's going to be blue, and red, and all colors; and when it's done, mother'll sew it into a round, and put fringe on: won't it be splendid? But remember, you ...
— Little Prudy's Sister Susy • Sophie May

... intestinal things in the body of the flea, who will be anxious to get them back again. Being by this means baptised, the soul of the creature has become Catholic. Immediately you will get a needle and thread and sew up the belly of the flea with great care, with such regard and attention as is due to a fellow Christian; you will even pray for it—a kindness to which you will see it is sensible by its genuflections and the attentive glances which it will bestow upon you. In short, it will cry no more, ...
— Droll Stories, Complete - Collected From The Abbeys Of Touraine • Honore de Balzac

... m-minute," she decided; "I'm just a little scared. When you've been lookin' head to the hundred and oneth so LONG and you get the very next door to it, it scares you a little. I'll wait until—oh, until Thomas Jefferson crows, before I sew the ...
— Rebecca Mary • Annie Hamilton Donnell

... small job to skin the carcasses and prepare the meat. The sinews were cut from the backs, scraped carefully and hung in the cabin to dry. Later, as she required them, Mrs. Twig would separate them into threads with which to sew moccasins, and boots, and other articles of skin clothing. The tongues were preserved as a delicacy. The livers and hearts were put aside to serve as a variety in diet. The back fat was prized as a substitute for lard. The ...
— Left on the Labrador - A Tale of Adventure Down North • Dillon Wallace

... along till time's up—what's the good of it to anybody? It's the same everywhere; look at the tailorshop! Those fellows sit and fool around there, with the guard slinging language at 'em every few minutes, and taking an hour to sew a hem six inches long; and all the time here's you and me wearing clothes that were new maybe five or six years ago, as you may see by the numbers that have been stamped on your back and then blotted out, and were worn, since then, by some poor devil with tuberculous trouble or worse; ...
— The Subterranean Brotherhood • Julian Hawthorne

... step is to sew the sheets on to cords or twine, set vertically at proper distances in a frame, called a "sewing bench," for this purpose. No book can be thoroughly well bound if the sewing is slighted in any degree. Insist upon strong, honest linen thread—if it breaks with ...
— A Book for All Readers • Ainsworth Rand Spofford

... writ de letter from de hospital where they had took him. He say dey had a hard fight, dat a ball busted his gun, and another ball shoot his cooterments (accouterments) off him; the third shot tear a big hole right through the side of his neck. The doctor done sew de wound up; he not hurt so bad. He soon ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4 • Works Projects Administration

... neighboring district, where she had always led her classes, but had spent two winters in a State Normal School. She was a trim body, compactly built, had black hair and eyes, and a fresh, rosy complexion that is so characteristic of her class. She could ride a fractious horse, milk, sew, knit and cook, and had followed the plow more than one day; while during harvest and corn-husking she had many a time "made a hand." From this cause she was strong and well knit in all her frame, a perfect picture of young womanly health and rustic beauty. She had a ...
— The Evolution of Dodd • William Hawley Smith

... to put the house in its most shining order, to plan daily little special dishes, lest he come upon her unawares; to sit and sew upon her clothing, shifting and turning her patchwork materials until she had worked out clever combinations which conveyed ...
— Under the Country Sky • Grace S. Richmond

... work,' he said. He named the workhouse he had stayed in. 'That's put me off earning a living for a good week to come. A man can't sew whilst his fingers is in this state. Stone breaking's bad enough; but when it comes to oakum-picking it's all up with work for one while. There was another chap there last night,' he went on, as I should take to be ...
— The Making Of A Novelist - An Experiment In Autobiography • David Christie Murray

... the skins; their bones are used for saddle-trees, for war-clubs, and scrapers for graining the robes; and others are broken up for the marrow fat which is contained in them. The sinews are used for strings and backs to their bows, for thread to string their beads and sew their dresses. The feet of the animals are boiled, with their hoofs, for the glue they contain, for fastening their arrow points, and many other uses. The hair from the head and shoulders, which ...
— Delineations of the Ox Tribe • George Vasey

... the Indian Women make, are of Rushes, and about five Foot high, and two Fathom long, and sew'd double, that is, two together; whereby they become very commodious to lay under our Beds, or to sleep on in the Summer Season in the Day-time, and for our Slaves ...
— A New Voyage to Carolina • John Lawson

... your frog: put your hook—I mean the arming wire—through his mouth and out at his gills, and then with a fine needle and silk sew the upper part of his leg with only one stitch to the arming wire of your hook, or tie the frog's leg above the upper joint to the armed wire; and in so doing use him ...
— Familiar Quotations • John Bartlett

... She wanted to sew, as usual, but she did not feel strong enough for it, and so she went to get a mouthful of fresh air at the door, which ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume II (of 8) • Guy de Maupassant

... have a hard morning's work in front of us. Cook, break out a cask of beef and a cask of bread, and get us something to eat. Davie, you stand watch and keep your eye out either for a native canoe or for any sign of Falk or his party. The rest of you—all except Lathrop— wash down the deck and sew those bodies up in a piece of old sail with plenty of ballast. Ben, you and I have a little job in front of us. Come into ...
— The Mutineers • Charles Boardman Hawes

... into the fish. Sew the opening with a stout string and a darning needle. Pat the flour into the fish. Place in a baking pan and bake in a hot oven for one hour. Baste every fifteen minutes with one cup of boiling water. Now, if you place a strip of cheesecloth under the fish you will be able to lift it ...
— Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book - Numerous New Recipes Based on Present Economic Conditions • Mary A. Wilson

... this kind comes to have a permanent binding, all the leaves and plates have to be pared at the back and made up into sections with guards—a troublesome and expensive business. The custom with binders is to overcast the backs of the leaves in sections, and to sew through the overcasting thread, but this, though an easy and quick process, makes a hopelessly stiff back, and no book ...
— Bookbinding, and the Care of Books - A handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians • Douglas Cockerell

... when they were sick! It just kept her busy bringing them gourds of fresh water from the spring and watching the well ones to see that they didn't purloin the dainties she brought the sick. She actually learned how to sew, making clothes ...
— That Old-Time Child, Roberta • Sophie Fox Sea

... replied they, "the conditions are too difficult. For six long years you must neither speak nor laugh, and during that time you must sew together for us six little shirts of star flowers, and should there fall a single word from your lips, then all your labor will be vain." Just as the brother finished speaking, the quarter of an hour elapsed, and they all flew out of ...
— The Junior Classics, Volume 1 • Willam Patten

... not I show you how the thread cuts my fingers? and I always get cramp, somehow, in my neck, if I sew long. ...
— The Crown of Wild Olive • John Ruskin

... his vital principle, outruns his strength, yokes his wife to some machine, wears out his child, and ties him to the wheel. The manufacturer—or I know not what secondary thread which sets in motion all these folk who with their foul hands mould and gild porcelain, sew coats and dresses, beat out iron, turn wood and steel, weave hemp, festoon crystal, imitate flowers, work woolen things, break in horses, dress harness, carve in copper, paint carriages, blow glass, corrode the diamond, polish metals, turn marble into leaves, labor ...
— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac

... She shuddered as the possibility of its having gone to the Biltons occurred to her. But she didn't believe it had,—they hadn't the same butcher any longer. Meanwhile there was so little to do. It was too dark to read or sew, and she sat idly at the window looking out at the passers and the driving snow. Everybody else was in a hurry. She wished she, too, had occasion to hasten down for a last purchase, or to light the lamp in order to finish ...
— A Christmas Accident and Other Stories • Annie Eliot Trumbull

... baking-powder biscuit dough, and roll it out until it is about two-thirds of an inch thick. Pit and stew enough cherries to make a thick layer of fruit and add sugar to taste. Spread them over the dough thickly and roll it up, taking care to keep the cherries from falling out. Wrap a cloth around it, and sew it up loosely with coarse thread, which is easily pulled out. Allow plenty of room for the dough to rise. Lay the roley-poley on a plate, set it in a steamer and steam for an hour and a half. Serve in slices, with cream ...
— The International Jewish Cook Book • Florence Kreisler Greenbaum

... February afternoon, when the rain was falling steadily, Jean felt unusually depressed and weary. An apprehension of some unhappiness made her sad, and she could not sew for the tears that would dim her eyes. Suddenly the door opened and Gavin's sister Mary entered. Jean did not know her very well, and she did not like her at all, and she wondered what she had come to ...
— Winter Evening Tales • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

... may be. None of us are, Tom. I wonder at you more than I do at Dan, for you have had more advantages. As for me, I am only a girl; there's nothing for girls but to sit and sew, and prepare meals for men to eat, and wait until some one comes and chooses to marry them. Then they go off and do the ...
— The Inn at the Red Oak • Latta Griswold

... myself that way. I thought perhaps you'd be glad to have me. I'm handy. I can cook, I can sew, and I'm quite cheerful and kind. Then there's George—little George. I thought you'd like to have your ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... into soft and pliant leather. They all knew how to cut these skins, and with tough sinews to sew them into hunting-shirts, moccasins, and other needed garments. Sitting Indian-fashion on mattresses or cushions of bearskin, with just enough to do gently to interest the mind, with no anxiety or thought even about the future, they would loiter ...
— David Crockett: His Life and Adventures • John S. C. Abbott

... with his chair tilted back and his feet propped against the steps. His coat was off, and Minnie sat near at hand sewing a button on the garment for him, and she wore that dreamy glaze that comes over women's eyes when they sew for other people. ...
— The Gentleman From Indiana • Booth Tarkington

... could be found, patches are easily found," said Petrovitch, "but there's nothing to sew them to. The thing is completely rotten; if you put a needle to ...
— Taras Bulba and Other Tales • Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

... vallay) is what Beau Brummel called a gentleman's gentleman. His duties are exactly the same as those of the lady's maid—except that he does not sew! He keeps his employer's clothes in perfect order, brushes, cleans and presses everything as soon as it has been worn—even if only for a few moments. He lays out the clothes to be put on, puts ...
— Etiquette • Emily Post

... dead, and her brother— And now she alone with her mother Will spin on her wheel, And sew, knit, and reel, And cheerfully work for ...
— Cottage Poems • Patrick Bronte

... don't want to march. I don't want to do the things that men do. I want to have a nice little house, and cook and sew, and ...
— Contrary Mary • Temple Bailey

... the least idea," said Eloise, coming in and sitting down. "I've thought all night. I can't do anything. I can't teach; I can't sew; I can't play. I can starve; can't ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 79, May, 1864 • Various

... drawing to a close—for the very sweetest reason in all this sad old world; a reason as yet apparent to no one in San Pasqual but Donna herself; a very tiny reason against whose coming Donna had commenced to plan and sew in the lonely hours of her vigil at the Hat Ranch, waiting for Bob to come back, that she might impart to him the secret. Yes, indeed, a most valid reason. Donna hoped it would be a man-baby, with ...
— The Long Chance • Peter B. Kyne

... factory and lives with them. The rent is no more when she is at home. The two dollars and a half a week which she pays into the family fund more than covers the cost of her actual food, and at night she can often contribute toward the family labor by helping her mother wash and sew. ...
— Democracy and Social Ethics • Jane Addams

... "this satin piece hangs over the front parlor mantel. It is much prettier and better done than the one Miss Longstitch worked of Charlotte at the tomb of Werter, though she did sew silver spangles all over Charlotte's lilac gown, and used chenille, at a fi'-penny-bit a needleful, for all the banks and the large tree. Now, as the mantel-piece is provided for, I wish a landscape for each of the recesses, ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume V. (of X.) • Various

... mother and sister in silence sit, And far into midnight sew and knit, And pray for the soldier-brother or son,— God's blessing on all ...
— Continental Monthly - Volume 1 - Issue 3 • Various

... those, but I'll sew this!" answered the tailor; and he stitched hard at his trews, for he knew that he had ...
— Celtic Fairy Tales • Joseph Jacobs (coll. & ed.)

... occasionally to thirteen or fourteen hours, the worst forms of sweating are not found. So too in the upper branches of machine-sewn boots, the skilled hands get fairly high wages. But the lower grades of machine- made boots, and the "sew-rounds," i.e. fancy shoes and slippers, which form a large part of the industry in London, present some of the worst features of the "sweating system." The "sweating master" plays a large part here. "In a busy week a comparatively ...
— Problems of Poverty • John A. Hobson

... slightest change of expression. "Well, that's a pity.... Allow me to raise my hand and point at this wall, so; and now people will understand that I'm explaining important points to a worker, and will not interrupt. Of course there is something for the non-residents to do, too. Let us see now. You can sew, I suppose?" ...
— V. V.'s Eyes • Henry Sydnor Harrison

... stopping a moment from her pinnings and speaking more gravely. "My father died then, and I went to work. I hadn't time to sew after that—I bought ready-made things. So when I was married—that was a long seven years afterwards—I did have such lovely times buying organdies and laces and things and cutting them out and making them! That was the summer Allan ...
— The Wishing-Ring Man • Margaret Widdemer

... thereby driving Kat to the verge of desperation, by giving frequent lectures on the necessity of sitting still gracefully, and walking without a skip or jump every third step. With all their little growing differences, they were just as devoted and inseparable as ever. Kittie would sit and sew with a lady-like air, and a posy in her belt, while Kat would lounge in the window-seat, and read aloud, or amuse them with nonsense; or, if they went out on the pond, Kittie would wear her gloves and ply her ...
— Six Girls - A Home Story • Fannie Belle Irving

... patched breeches, which was offensive to some. Well, some people are so confounded high toned that if they were going to have a patch put on they would have it way up on the small of their back. Some of the best women in the world have sat up nights to sew a patch on their husband's pants. Martha Washington used to do it. But, G. Lordy, a family newspaper must not speak of a patch. When you take patches away from the people you strike a blow at their ...
— Peck's Compendium of Fun • George W. Peck

... "Sew a bag of canvas, leather, or hide, of such bigness as to admit the butt of the gun pretty freely. The straps that support it buckle through a ring in the pommel, and the thongs by which its slope is adjusted fasten round the girth below. The exact ...
— The Prairie Traveler - A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions • Randolph Marcy

... almost humbly, "do you know you are more of a Ruskin girl than I am? He says that every girl, every day, should do something really useful about the house—go into the kitchen, and sew, and learn how to fold table-cloths, and things, like that. And you know all of those things—and how to help the poor—and I—I am always trying to do some great thing, and I never really help any one. Not any ...
— Judy • Temple Bailey

... years of age, but what my life was during past years is to me a sealed book. I cannot remember a person I knew or associated with, yet things outside of my personal life seem to have clung to me. I remembered books I must have read; I can write, sing and sew—I sew remarkably well, and must have once been trained to it. I know all about my country's history, yet I cannot recollect where I lived, and this part of the country is unknown to me. When I came to Elmhurst I knew all about it and about Mr. Forbes, ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work • Edith Van Dyne

... tree felled, and he says as it lies upon the ground, pick up! Seeing a hole in a dressing-gown, he says, nae[)e]n (sew)! In his play he sometimes says to himself, dib acht (take care)! To the question, "Did it taste good?" the child answers while still eating, mekk noch (schmeckt noch), "It does taste good," thus distinguishing the past in the question from the present. The development of observation and ...
— The Mind of the Child, Part II • W. Preyer

... my mother sewed," Burr went on, "she used a little bone to push the thread through the skins. One day she found a little bone with a hole in it and took it home. She put her thread through the hole, wondering how it would do, and began to sew. Soon there was a crowd of women round her, pointing and saying, 'Oh, oh!' while the ...
— The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone • Margaret A. McIntyre

... Dick," Sheila said; "he asked me to grow up and marry him some day. He said I should sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, and feast upon strawberries, sugar ...
— Outside Inn • Ethel M. Kelley

... him humanity at least. This sentimental savage, whom it is a mode to quote (among the novelists) to show their sympathy for innocent sports and old songs, teaches how to sew up frogs, and break their legs by way of experiment, in addition to the art of angling,—the cruelest, the coldest, and the stupidest of pretended sports. They may talk about the beauties of nature, but the angler merely thinks of his dish of fish; he has ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli

... say?" said Hun Rhavas with remarkable want of enthusiasm; "kind sirs, is there no one ready to say fifteen? The girl might be taught to sew or to trim a lady's nails. She may be unskilled now but she might learn—providing that her health be good," he added with ...
— "Unto Caesar" • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... and Mrs. Williams continued to sew. The days were growing short, and at five o'clock she was obliged to put the work aside, as her eyes did not permit her to continue it by artificial light. Descending to the lower floor, she found the house silent, and when she opened the front door to see if the evening paper had come, she beheld ...
— Penrod and Sam • Booth Tarkington

... hesitate to take the whole responsibility of one child may find useful and pleasant employment for themselves by teaching a class of children of the poor. They can teach them to sew or to read, they can provide simple pleasures for them, and supplement the work of the public schools in a hundred ways necessary in cases where there ...
— Girls and Women • Harriet E. Paine (AKA E. Chester}

... could pop in this minute. You found the prepared flour, and all—baked 'em on the griddle! Wa'n't that cute! I never did see an omelet like that except from Susan Winchester's own hands, and she learned from a Frenchwoman she used to sew with. Some folks can pick up every useful trick ...
— American Cookery - November, 1921 • Various

... make cockades in the national colors. Every French girl is taught to sew; each is born with good taste. They were invited to show their good taste in the designing of cockades, which people would buy for a franc, which franc would ...
— With the French in France and Salonika • Richard Harding Davis

... if you shut your eyes to the white tiles and the thermometer and the brass knobs and the shower-bath, it was a peaceful scene; and Steve, as he sat there and watched Mamie sew, was stirred by it. Remove the white tiles, the thermometer the brass knobs, and the shower-bath, and this was precisely the sort of scene his imagination conjured up when the business of life slackened sufficiently to ...
— The Coming of Bill • P. G. Wodehouse

... children were all as busy as bees helping to get Barbara ready. They assisted in choosing her new frocks and hats, and the style of making; and poor Miss Smith, who came to sew for her, was nearly distracted by their popping in every now and then to see how she was getting on. Even Donald, who hated talking about "girls' fashions," bought a paper, because he saw it had a pattern of a blouse advertised, and he thought ...
— Barbara in Brittany • E. A. Gillie

... in these astonishing circumstances to learn to sew. Husbands, I was shocked to find, wore their stockings into holes, and were always losing buttons, and I was expected to "look to all that"; also it behooved me to learn to cook! no capable servant choosing to live at such an out-of-the-way ...
— Short Stories and Selections for Use in the Secondary Schools • Emilie Kip Baker

... having three sharp edges, and heavy waxed thread, or better yet, with catgut, sew up the longer sides of the skin with a simple overcast stitch. Let the hair side be in while sewing. In the smaller end sew the circular bottom. Invert the quiver on a stick; turn back a cuff of hide one inch deep at the top. To do this nicely, the hair should be ...
— Hunting with the Bow and Arrow • Saxton Pope

... quiet season to have a baby, and, a big woman at the best of times, she had grown so enormous in the process that her husband told her she looked unappetising, and had better remain upstairs and sew. ...
— In a German Pension • Katherine Mansfield

... heart thoroughly inside and out, stuff with the following mixture, and sew up the opening: One cup broken bread dipped in fat and browned in the oven, 1 chopped onion, and salt and ...
— Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife • Marion Mills Miller

... yearning for a home, assiduously and constantly devoted to it, her husband and her numerous children. Fancy likes to linger on this old-fashioned housewife, arising in the early morning and from that time until her bedtime content to bake, cook, wash, dust, clean, sew, nurse and teach; imagining no other career possible or proper for her sex; leading a life of self- sacrifice, toil and devotion. Poet, novelist, artist, and clergyman have immortalized her, and men for the most part cherish this ...
— The Foundations of Personality • Abraham Myerson

... typhus, had dulled their enthusiasm. It is not fair to blame them. To nurse from morning till night in a putrid Serbian hospital with all windows closed requires more than devotion and complete indifference to life. Three Serbian ladies came to sew pillow cases and sheets every afternoon, and one of them gave up still more time to teach the patients reading ...
— The Luck of Thirteen - Wanderings and Flight through Montenegro and Serbia • Jan Gordon

... although they grumble, the flies crowd to see the giants and the big bell, then I have to hurry with the tickets; one day, Gabriel, I took eighty duros. I remember it was at the last 'Corpus'; Mariquita had to sew up the pockets of my cassock, for they tore with the weight of so many pesetas; it was a blessing from ...
— The Shadow of the Cathedral • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... the griffin," said Nigel. And the Princess said: "Yes—only—" And she kissed Nigel and went back to sew the last leaf of the last lily on the bosom of her wedding gown. She thought and thought of what was written on the stone about the griffin being artificial—and next day she said to Nigel: "You know a griffin is half a lion and half an eagle, and the other two halves when they've joined make the ...
— The Book of Dragons • Edith Nesbit

... found herself in the happy position of having so thoroughly completed her round of household work that she felt at leisure to sit down and sew, while little Grace sat beside her, near the ...
— Deep Down, a Tale of the Cornish Mines • R.M. Ballantyne

... pederasty for money. For certain rich roues, or for those affected with pederosis, children are kept. This last class of goods is very dear, for there is always a risk of the law intervening. Young virgins also fetch a high price; and they even try to sew up the hymen after their defloration, so as to offer them several ...
— The Sexual Question - A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study • August Forel

... in my life had I felt Hal so near to me. His manner toward me had changed, of course, as he grew into manhood, and "Emily, will you sew on this button?" or "Emily, are my stockings ready?" were given in place of "Emily did it," but now, as he looked full in my face, and even passed his arm about me with true brotherly affection, he seemed so near, that the hot tears chased each ...
— The Harvest of Years • Martha Lewis Beckwith Ewell

... "I shall have to sew one on right there for poor Mr. Poopendyke," she said, poking her finger into the empty ...
— A Fool and His Money • George Barr McCutcheon

... room, under the roof. At last the Spring rolled round again, and the days passed one like another, in the quiet dwelling of Uncle Titus. Dora worked harder than ever on the big shirts, for she had learned to sew so well, that she had to help the seamstress in earnest now. When the hot days came again, something happened; and now Aunt Ninette had reason enough to lament. Uncle Titus had an attack of dizziness, and the doctor was ...
— Uncle Titus and His Visit to the Country • Johanna Spyri

... woman, "I'll tell you what it is, Miss Patsey, I've been a thinking over the matter a deal for the last week, and I've been a-trying my appetite, and a-trying my eyes, and a-trying how I could walk about, and work, and sew, and I just tell you what it is, Miss Patsey, ...
— Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy • Frank Richard Stockton

... is a little of this left. It is for you. My mother has much skill to make garments. Let us sew ...
— The Eye of Dread • Payne Erskine

... throwing out the babies—no, not to a living soul, save yourself, sir. Well, a woman gave me another gown, which was a help, and I soon found a place with a family in the country, fifteen miles from Liverpool, to sew for the family and tend the children. Of course I dropped the name of Ellen Lee the moment I left Liverpool, and I hoped to settle down to a peaceful life and faithful service. But I grew sadder all the time; nothing could cheer me up. Night and day, day and night, I was haunted by the thought ...
— Donald and Dorothy • Mary Mapes Dodge

... her brother's friend, and told me she was glad I had come with him, all the clutches broke off my cage, and I thought I would in a moment bring up in the sump below the 1,700 foot level, smashed so they would have to sew the pieces up in canvas to bring me to the surface. It is a clear case that I am gone, and what the mischief am I going to do? Suppose I brace up and try to win her, and fail, then I shall be done for sure enough. The old world so far has had ...
— The Wedge of Gold • C. C. Goodwin

... the roll on her plate, and not eating. She lingered in the room after breakfast, when all the rest had left it, looking out of the window. She was still there when, half an hour later, Grace came in to sew; but not alone. Mr. Stanford was standing beside her, and Grace caught ...
— Kate Danton, or, Captain Danton's Daughters - A Novel • May Agnes Fleming

... And I'll take care of your clothes; you really are dreadfully shabby;" she turned him round to the light, and brushed off some ashes. The Captain beamed. "Poor Alfred! and there's a button off! that daughter-in-law of yours can't sew any more than a cat (and she is a cat!). But I love to mend. Mary has saved me all that. She's such a good daughter—poor Mary. But ...
— Quaint Courtships • Howells & Alden, Editors

... depravities to which the children of soldiers are exposed in the barrack-rooms, she rested not till she had established a School of Industry for girls, which became eminently successful, and, under an extended form, has continued to be of great social importance to Madras. The pupils were taught to sew, cook, and otherwise manage household affairs; and we are told, that on finishing their education, they were eagerly sought for as servants, or wives, by non-commissioned officers. In this career of usefulness, Mrs Chisholm ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456 - Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852 • Various

... saddler, eh? and taught you Greek, Instead of teaching you to sew! Pray, why did not your father make A saddler, sir, ...
— De La Salle Fifth Reader • Brothers of the Christian Schools

... come into both minds and vanish as if flickered off a film—to Rose Severance, a man narrow and flat as if he were cut out of thin grey paper, talking, talking in a voice as dry and rattling as a flapping windowblind of their "vacation" together and a house with a little garden where she can sew and he can putter around,—to Ted, Elinor Piper, the profile pure as if it were painted on water, passing like water flowing from the earth in springs, in its haughty temperance, its retired beauty, its murmurous quiet—other faces, some trembling as if touched with light flames, ...
— Young People's Pride • Stephen Vincent Benet

... commanded willing obedience. She arranged their work with fairness so that each had her share and each seemed free in doing that work to use her individual taste and judgment. She taught her children to spin and to sew, and she read to them. She told them about the guardian Angel who watched over them to keep them from harm. She was not anxious when they were out of sight, for even when Snow White and Rose Red stayed in the wood all night and slept on the leaves, she had no fear, for no accident ...
— A Study of Fairy Tales • Laura F. Kready

... sad muddle since she came to me. The people round about are persuaded that I am, to put it as kindly as possible, exceedingly eccentric, for the news has travelled that I spend the day out of doors with a book, and that no mortal eye has ever yet seen me sew or cook. But why cook when you can get some one to cook for you? And as for sewing, the maids will hem the sheets better and quicker than I could, and all forms of needlework of the fancy order are inventions of the evil one for keeping ...
— Elizabeth and her German Garden • "Elizabeth", AKA Marie Annette Beauchamp

... India rubber, are all of them good to clean light kid gloves. They should be rubbed on the gloves thoroughly. If so much soiled that they cannot be cleaned, sew up the tops of the gloves, and rub them over with a sponge dipped in a decoction of saffron and water. The gloves will be yellow or brown, according to the strength ...
— The American Housewife • Anonymous

... finally persuaded to tack and sew the sheets on the tent. When completed, she surveyed her work for a moment and said: "We're all hun-ki-dora now"—a slang phrase in those ...
— Watch Yourself Go By • Al. G. Field

... same time that should this plan be attempted to be carried into execution, they would join their forces to those of Napoleon and thus endanger the position of the Allies. They took their measures accordingly; the whole Canton Sew to arms; the Bernois and the Allies were alarmed and consultations held; the Count de Bubna, the Austrian General, being consulted, thought the attempt so hazardous and so pregnant with mischief that he had the good sense to recommend ...
— After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 • Major W. E Frye

... in diameter into spirals in order to make spring connections for continuous glass apparatus, I will describe a method by which this is easily done. Provide a bit of iron pipe about an inch and a quarter in outside diameter. Cover this with a thick sheath of asbestos cloth, and sew the edges with iron wire. Hammer the wire down so that a good cylindrical surface is obtained. Make two wooden plugs for the ends of the iron pipe. Bore one to fit a nail, which may be held in ...
— On Laboratory Arts • Richard Threlfall

... the lawyers and doctors there is in the Territory now—and this country used to be respectable. Why, when I first come here there wasn't a doctor within a thousand miles, and no need for one. If one of the boys got shot up much, we always found some way to laundry him and sew him together again without no need of a diplomy. No one ever got sick; and, of course, no one ever did die of his own accord, the way they do back ...
— Heart's Desire • Emerson Hough

... badly to do something to show my gratitude, but could think of nothing except that, by and by, when we knew each other better, I might offer to sew on his buttons or ...
— The Motor Maid • Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson

... destitute of chivalry. He knows indeed that people of other nations are affected by this sentiment; but he despises them for it. Woman is the weaker vessel; and therefore, according to his code, she must be taught to know her place, which is to cook and sew, and produce "cannon-fodder" for the Government. Readers of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche will remember the advice given by those philosophers for the treatment of women. Nietzsche recommends a whip. It never occurred ...
— Raemaekers' Cartoons - With Accompanying Notes by Well-known English Writers • Louis Raemaekers

... as he searched for and drew out his knife. "I will rip it down the seam, and we will sew it up again some time." And then muttering to himself, "Scraped! It's a bad wound! We must get the bullet out. No—no bullet here." And then, making use of the little knowledge he had picked up, Punch tore off strips of cotton from his own and his ...
— !Tention - A Story of Boy-Life during the Peninsular War • George Manville Fenn

... she demanded, with a sudden flash of passion that thrilled him. "Look at the holes." She showed rips and worn-out places in the sleeves of her buckskin blouse, through which gleamed a round, brown arm. "I sew when I have anythin' to sew with.... Look at my skirt—a dirty rag. An' I have only one other to my name.... Look!" Again a color tinged her cheeks, most becoming, and giving the lie to her action. But shame could not check her violence now. A dammed-up ...
— To the Last Man • Zane Grey

... lost, and to show favors to an enemy of the friars was to expose themselves to their vengeance. At last a pious woman took pity on the girl and lent the money on condition that Juli should remain with her as a servant until the debt was paid. Juli would not have so very much to do: sew, pray, accompany her to mass, and fast for her now and then. The girl accepted with tears in her eyes, received the money, and promised to enter her service ...
— The Reign of Greed - Complete English Version of 'El Filibusterismo' • Jose Rizal

... of scalps, however, is also a practice of great antiquity. The Scythians used to hang the scalps of their enemies to the harness of their horses; and he was deemed the most distinguished warrior whose equipage was most plentifully decorated with these ornaments. Some were accustomed to sew numbers of scalps together, so as to form a cloak, in which they arrayed themselves. It was also usual for the warriors of this nation to tear off the skin from the right hands of their slain enemies, ...
— John Rutherford, the White Chief • George Lillie Craik

... not been for Thomas Bolle, who has the strength of a bull, I could never have done it. Moreover, the Abbot has been there before us and dug over every inch of the floor. But the fool never thought of the wall, so all's well. I'll sew half of them into my petticoat and half into yours, to share the risk. In case of thieves, the money that hungry Visitor has left to us, for I paid him over half when you signed the deeds, we will carry openly in pouches upon our girdles. ...
— The Lady Of Blossholme • H. Rider Haggard

... rightly gathered that the Chinese mostly sleep on the ground floor. In Peking, houses of more than one storey are absolutely barred; the reason being that each house is built round a courtyard, which usually has trees in it, and in which the ladies of the establishment delight to sit and sew, and take the air and all the exercise they ...
— The Civilization Of China • Herbert A. Giles

... and looking upwards. 'Don't imagine, though, that I am very learned. Mercy on us! no; I'm not learned, and I've no talents of any sort. I scarcely know how to write ... really; I can't read aloud; nor play the piano, nor draw, nor sew—nothing! That's what I am—there you ...
— The Torrents of Spring • Ivan Turgenev

... At the same time, Bill fashioned and carved two or three paper-knives of wood with great neatness. But when it was discovered that they could sew sail-cloth expeditiously and well, a quantity of that material was given to them, and they were ordered to make sacks. They set to work accordingly, and made sack after sack until they grew so wearied of the monotonous work that Ben said ...
— The Battle and the Breeze • R.M. Ballantyne

... girl likes to be pretty, to dance well, to sew neatly, to be helpful to her mother, to be ...
— Heart and Soul • Victor Mapes (AKA Maveric Post)

... telegram alarms her; even an unopened letter makes her hesitate and conjure up dreams of disaster. Very likely she is irritable and recognizes the unreasonableness of her temper. Her daily tasks distress her sorely. She can no longer sit still and sew or read. Conversation no longer interests, or it even troubles her. Noises, especially sudden noises, startle her, and the cries and laughter of children have become distresses of which she is ashamed, and of which she complains ...
— Doctor and Patient • S. Weir Mitchell

... a quilting at the house of the two sisters that day. Six or seven women of the neighborhood, of middle age or older, had been in to sew on the glaring, varicolored square. All day long they had thrust their needles up and down and gossiped in their slow, insinuating way, pausing only at noon to move their chairs to the dinner-table, where they sat with the same set curves ...
— Westerfelt • Will N. Harben

... beheld. road, a way; route. scene, a view. rowed, did row. seine, a net for fishing. room, an apartment. slay, to kill. rheum, a serous fluid. sleigh, a vehicle on runners. sow, to scatter seed. sley, a weaver's reed. sew (so), to use a needle. seem, to appear. so, thus; in like manner. ...
— McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book • W. H. McGuffey

... 'cause I sees exactly how it is—he be a devil, but he be only a sea-devil and not a shore-devil, and I'll tell you for why. Didn't he come on board some how no how in a gale of wind when he was called for? Didn't I sew him up in a bread-bag, and didn't he come back just as nothing had happened; and didn't the corporal launch him into a surge over the taffrail, and he comes back just as if nothing had happened? Well, then, one thing is clear; that his power be on the water, and ...
— Snarley-yow - or The Dog Fiend • Frederick Marryat

... glory thus, the dome he seeks Of Semele;—her mortal frame too weak, To bear th' ethereal shock, fierce scorcht she sunk, Beneath the nuptial grant. Th' imperfect babe, Snatcht from his mother's smoking womb, was sew'd (If faith the tale deserves) within his thigh; There to complete the period of his growth. Ino, his aunt maternal, then receiv'd The boy; in private rear'd him, till the nymphs Of Nysa's mountains, in their secret caves Shelter'd, and fed with ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... architecture—and secretly a little disturbed, suspecting what lay behind it. But as autumn drew on he read more and more of the books she kept putting in his way. While he read she would sit with a novel or sew. She would glance up with some remark, and they would talk and then read on. Subtly she made the atmosphere. She often brought Paris into their talks. She spoke longingly of the shops and plays, and all she wanted to see over there. And she almost succeeded in making him promise to take ...
— His Second Wife • Ernest Poole

... Oh—I don't know. I don't know as she was nervous. I sometimes sew awful queer when I'm just tired. (MRS HALE starts to say something, looks at MRS PETERS, then goes on sewing) Well I must get these things wrapped up. They may be through sooner than we think, (putting ...
— Plays • Susan Glaspell

... are the flowers in raiment fair, Wondrous to see on deserts bare. Neither they spin nor weave nor sew Yet no king could such beauty ...
— Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark • Jens Christian Aaberg

... together with many stitches. Webster defines a quilt as "Anything that is quilted, especially as a quilted bedcover or a skirt worn by women; any cover or garment made by putting wool, cotton, etc., between two cloths and stitching them together." The verb, to quilt, he defines as "To stitch or to sew together at frequent intervals in order to confine in place the several layers of cloth and wadding of which a garment, comforter, etc., may be made. To stitch or sew in ...
— Quilts - Their Story and How to Make Them • Marie D. Webster

... it, and I'll find it out, and if it is so, as sure as my name's Van Siever, I'll sew him up." Having uttered which terrible threat, the old woman drew a chair to the table and seated herself fairly down, as though she were determined to go through all the books of the office before she quitted that room. Mrs Van Siever ...
— The Last Chronicle of Barset • Anthony Trollope

... a woman was born in Chester without hands, to whom nature had supplied a remedy for that defect by the flexibility and delicacy of the joints of her feet, with which she could sew, or perform any work with thread or scissors, as well ...
— The Itinerary of Archibishop Baldwin through Wales • Giraldus Cambrensis

... jester, with a rueful air, "not much more than would buy gold thread to sew my head on again, were your highness pleased to honour ...
— The Pirate City - An Algerine Tale • R.M. Ballantyne

... scarcity during the first few years. I rather think the sentiment of the miners was somewhat intensified by the extreme difficulty they found in doing women's work. One of them, now an eminent physician, pricked and scarred his fingers in the most distressing manner, in attempting to sew on his buttons, and patch the rents in his garments. Another member of the camp, who was afterwards governor of the State, won his first laurels as a cook, by the happy discovery, that, by combining an acid with the alkali used in the making of their bread, the result was vastly ...
— Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon and California • Caroline C. Leighton

... said she, "if that is all, you can soon sew up their stockings. You don't depend on them, anyways: you are a young ...
— Love Me Little, Love Me Long • Charles Reade

... can't help it, she's got to have a chair anywhere where she's to stay for a week. So temperance loses Mrs. Macy. Then woman's sufferige did n't wait to ask her what she was, but sent her a button an' told her to sew it right on right then an' there. She says she was feelin' so bad over the temperance that she was only too glad to be agreeable about the button so she done it, but it's hard to button over on a'count of bein' ...
— Susan Clegg and a Man in the House • Anne Warner

... must choose a trade and pretend to be working at it. For instance, if he is a tailor, he must pretend to sew or iron; if a blacksmith, to hammer, and so on. One is the king, and he, too, chooses a trade. Every one works away as hard as he can until the king suddenly gives up his trade, and takes up that of some one else. Then all ...
— My Book of Indoor Games • Clarence Squareman

... I said, "I am not going to sew and make clothes for Matty. It is so much easier and more convenient to ...
— Uncle Rutherford's Nieces - A Story for Girls • Joanna H. Mathews

... Gloriana. "I jest couldn't stay away. Why, I've made things fer Miriam Standish ever since she was born. That is how I learned ter sew as ...
— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell

... of goats very beautifully, making them as soft as chamois leather; these they cut into squares, and sew together as neatly as would be effected by a European tailor, converting them into mantles which are prized far more highly than bark cloth, on account of their durability: they manufacture their own needles, not by boring the eye, but by sharpening the end into a fine ...
— The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile • Sir Samuel White Baker

... one thing I won't do," he said, "—go about with the seat out of my pants and ask an heiress to sew on the ...
— The Crimson Tide • Robert W. Chambers

... lies on and forms the stitch. Be careful that in pulling in the latter part each thread closes at the same time, thereby preventing a crooked seam. Repeat until the seam is finished, then take the other gusset and place in position. Sew this, then take the other side of bag and sew to the gussets. You will then have something in the shape of a bag, minus the bottom. Take this next, and fix each corner to one of the seams previously made, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886 • Various

... our story, Susy was more than six years old, and Prudy was between three and four. Susy could sew quite well for a girl of her age, and had a stint every day. Prudy always thought it very fine to do just as Susy did, so she teased her mother to let her have some patchwork, too, and Mrs. Parlin gave her a few calico pieces, just ...
— Little Prudy • Sophie May

... At the time tests were made there were but twenty operators at work, leaving ten idle machines, the entire shafting, however, being in operation. The class of goods manufactured in this shop is a cheap grade of cotton and wool pants, rather heavy goods to sew. A volt meter across the terminals of the motor gave the following readings with the current at 9 amperes: Minimum 90 volts, maximum 148 volts, average 119, which gives us a minimum average per operator of 4.5 volts and a maximum average of 7.4 volts, or a general average ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 664, September 22,1888 • Various

... and out of the house, laughing, begging the daughter to sew on a button, sell them an egg, boys of nineteen and twenty, fair, ...
— The Happy Foreigner • Enid Bagnold

... a luxury," he said. "The more we stuff into people the more they want, and the less they take the sooner they forget they're sick. As your doctor, from this time on, I shall be delighted to set your broken bones, sew up your gashes, and all that sort of thing, but it is precious little medicine I'll give to you. So don't get sick. The only epidemic we can have here, according to my judgment, is an epidemic of good health. Am ...
— West Wind Drift • George Barr McCutcheon

... sew'd it up with scarlet silk Last night upon my knee, And my heart grew sad and sore to think Thy face ...
— The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems • William Morris



Words linked to "Sew" :   gather, sew together, forge, run up, conjoin, overcast, fashion, baste, cast off, tailor-make, join, fasten, tack, cast on, tick, sewer, tailor, hemstitch, hem, backstitch, finedraw, fell, fix, quilt, resew, retick, pucker



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