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The title almost certainly refers to a table game of skittles. This game involves nine small skittles to be knocked down by a ball on a string attached to an arm similar to a miniature garden ‘swingball’ or, in a larger version, by directing a spinning top at the skittles.  

Why the devil should be among the tailors, however, remains a mystery although it has been suggested that a tailor’s devil is a pressing iron and the title refers to its use by a number of tailors who traditionally sit in a circle on a large workbench.
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