LET'S GO GOSSIPING

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 11154, 1 July 1933, Page 4

LET'S GO GOSSIPING

Some Interesting Hints For Ladies DRESSMAKING. Flares and Frills.—The new flared flounces and frills are very graceful to look at —when they are properly cut and properly put on. Otherwise they hang badly and look slovenly. When you are cutting a circular flounce make sure that its centre is exactly on the straight of the material: this applies too, to flared sleeve frills, a basque, and to a flared skirt itself. On this depends the correct “hang” of your flare. When putting on a flounce snip the upper raw edge here and there, so that it will give properly, for the upper edge is necessarily a wee bit tighter than the material even a turning’s depth within it. Run a firm tacking thread along this upper edge, just below the snips, to prevent stretching. If you are joining on a plain flounce, you can stitch it to the skirt with a single seam, and press the turnings open afterwards. When the flare is shaped into points at the top, (as they often are) you must tack a turning along the upper edge and stitch it over the skirt edge. Sometimes the turned-in edge of the skirt is stitched over the flounce, instead; snip the flounce edge in either case. It is a good plan to divide your flounce into quarters, or even eights, marking the points with pins, and to do the same to the skirt or sleeve edge. Then tack the two edges together with the corresponding pins meeting; you will be sure of getting the flounce even. When attaching a shaped frill to a sleeve, say just below or just above the elbow, tack it in place with right sides of frill and sleeve together, and the raw edge of the frill downwards. Then, when you’ve stitched it, the frill falls over the join a.nd turning, and hides them. A gathered frill is generally a straight strip of material cut across from selvedge to selvedge. In making narrow, gathered frills, as for children’s party frocks, allow a yard and a half of frilling to every yard to be trimmed, or a little more if the material 'be very thin. The newest method of finishing the outer edges of flounce or frill is a very narrow turning to the wrong side, machined on the right side. Plcot edging is done very inexpensively at any sewing machine shop. Tack a guide line in matching silk or mercerized cotton, allow a iin. turning outside it.

THE COOK. A Lesson in Pastry Making.—Pitfalls to Avoid. If you find the pastry is sticky and difficult -to roll out, you will know that yop have either made it too wet when mixing or that you have made it in a hot kitchen, with hands that were not sufficiently cool. Make pastry in as cool a place a.s possible and wash your hands in very hot water five to ten minutes before you begin to mix. See, too, that all the utensils are quite cold. Tough, heavy pastry is caused by making the dough too wet, or by using damp flour, or by putting it into an oven that is not hot enough. Another cause of heavy pastry is using the rolling-pin with a heavy hand. Roll lightly, with short, rapid movements. Always roll one way, forwards not backwards. And never roll right off the pastry. Stop before you arrive at'the edge. It is especially important with puff pastry to keep the air in the pastry. If you roll off the edge, you force the air out. Pastry that contains bakingpowder or self-raising flour must be put in. the oven as soon as possible after it is made; if it stands any time after mixing, before cooking, it will not rise. Short pastry is sometimes lumpy and has a spotty appearance in cold weather. This is because the fat was hard and did not mix well with the other ingredients:; it most frequently occurs with dripping. To prevent this, keep the fat in a warm place for some time 'before using it, or beat it until creamy before mixing with the flour. But never make it warm enough to be oily. When making fruit tarts you. sometimes find that the pastry has fallen in and is moist underneath. This is either because there was not sufficient fruit to hold up the pastry, or perhaps that the fruit had been stewed first and was still warm when the pastry was put on—the steam in that case melted the fat in the pastry and caused it to fall before the heat of the oven had set it. Another cause of a sodden undercrust is that too much juice or water has been put in the dish, or that a centre funnel has not been used, so that the steam could not escape.

GENERAL. Cushion Covers with a Difference. —lf your snowy bed poses as a luxurious divan by day, here is a means of providing it with two more lovely, fat cushions—at the same time solving the problem of what to do with the pillows. Just make a round cushion cover of some fairly thick furnishing brocade, velvet, lame, or other suitable material, by cutting a circle about ten inches in diameter, to which you will gather a length of material twelve inches wide and one yard and three-quarters long. The outer ■ edge of your cushion cover should be hemmed and drawn up with an elastic (about 18 inches in length). These covers can be slipped over your pillows in a twinkling and are such a complete disguise. You can hide the gap of pillow showing at the back by slipping a piece of the same material as the cover under the elastic edge. Attach this extra piece of material to your cover by means of a fairly long piece of tape, so as not do .mislay it. I have found that these covers make most acceptable presents for bachelorgirls.