Blouses, and Your Accessories, Will Decide The Fate of Your Suit

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 208, 30 May 1936, Page 23

Blouses, and Your Accessories, Will Decide The Fate of Your Suit

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After the more-or-less stereotyped .suit styles which are prevalent at the moment —the chalk-striped tailleur, the bolero suit, the box coat and the caped suit—it is somewhat of a relief to turn one’s imagination loose on blouses. Here ther£ is no leash—style, material, colour —all are matters of a free choice, which demands individuality, originality, and initiative. And, of course, it is those blouses which, together with your accessories, will decide the fate of your suit. Be liberal witli yourself. Buy as many as you can afford in as many different colours and different styles as you can think of. You will then be literally ‘‘suited’’ for every occasion—and there’s no end to the fun you’ll have in working out your accessory combinations.

a blouse can dash in where a (Ires: must hold back.

.Morning blouses are mostly of the tailored variety. Some are cut in waistcoat fashion, others definitely shirtmaker —very often with a turndown collar that calls for a tie. Try a spotted bow-knot, on a plain blouse. Pique with a stiff pleated front and stud buttons is used in white and in colours.

Tunic blouses are right for evening or afternoon. They are usually cut anything from hip to knee-length, and often flare widely at the hem. .Molyneux makes a niched taffeta tunic that is Hared. Jaunty be-plumed blouses of plaid taffeta or faille look well over plain skirts, either in afternoon or evening. The evening blouse becomes a consideration with the advent of the dinner suit. If your evening suit is of the severe, mannish variety, with Eton jacket or toreador bolero, then your blouse must, correspond. It will probably be high to the neck, witli either a peter

Blouses are subtle things, and carry with them the power to change the complexion of an outfit. Buy your materials with foresight. Bor morning and

for the country), buy jersey—both silk and wool, lightweight woollens, crepes of every' sort and lie-silk. For afternoon buy silks, satins, crepes, taffetas and chiffons. For any time at all buy fine lawns, laces, and printed materials. These last are real news. The printed blouse, whether it be a floral design or a dark ground, or a brightly-colour-ed conventional motif, brings gaiety to many a tired costume. Have your blouse made somewhat Gibson Girl, like the one in my sketch. At any rate,: be sure that it is almost tailored—chanel on a blouse of brocaded organdie or sheer cotton crepon will place an Eton collar. The floral designs used are always extremely gay in colour and small in motif. Natural colour roses are scrattered on dark grounds—as a rule, black or navy. Golden crocuses bloom on warm browns, geraniums, delphiniums and forget-me-nots, are arranged neatly in "old world” posies. Then there are a host of other so-called “conventional” designs, which this year are anything lint conventional. Parisian designers' feature the most original and entertaining prints that have been seen for many years. Animals, dancing figures, skyscrapers, numbers, stars ami letetrs of the alphabet, are only a few of the objects they have commandeered. Paisley designs are "in.” too. and spots and stripes.- Some materials are so fantastic that their use is limited to either scarfs or blouses—for

pan shirt collar or a tiny, stand-up military one; but if your suit is an Edwardian affair, then you will wear a frilly blouse —the fussier and more feminine the better. Perhaps it will have a jabot made from rows and rows of Valenciennes lace, perhaps the entire blouse will be trimmed with lace frills, or maybe you will have an organdy or lawn blouse that is pin-tucked and hand-embroidered, or a chiffon one witli a pleated yoke. Knife pleatings arc used both as trimmings and for the whole blouse. Intricate and detailed handwork raises the fashion value of any blouse. So you can play tricks with your trimmings as well as with your colour schemes.

The vogue for coloured embroidery which originated in the Tyrol has made itself felt in the blouse world. For a long time we have had exquisitely embroidered peasant blouses which are also smocked and shirred. Now wc see bright-coloured wools embroidered in flora! and conventional designs on dark colours. Some blouses have embroidered necklets of gay flowers, others have embroidered belt bands that are attached to the blouse and worn over the' skirt. Sometimes an embroidered panel goes down the front of the blouse or embroidered tabs arc used as fasteners and placed at intervals of two inches. Au embroidered blouse is fun to make, and will act as a pick-me-up for your last year's suit.

edging. How To Make a Quilted Chintz Cushion

A I'LOWEKED ’ <: hint Z. c u s h i o n is

Quilting is All the Rage To-day !

I U O U 4 V 11 ih spring-like in its freshness, and the glaze on the material has the effect of keeping it fresh and clean longer than ah ordinary cretonne.

Cushions are generally 22 inches square. Cut out this size in the chintz, the muslin, and the wadding. Sandwich the wadding l>etween the ehiutz and the muslin.

ami tack securely together. Then, working on the right side of the chintz, outline the printed design with running-stiches, as the diagram on the right shows. Take these stitches through the three thicknesses ol material. If it is a flowered design, run round the edges of each flower, leaf, and bud, which will give a pretty raised effect.

The back of the cushion is left plain. Join die padded chintz square to the plain chintz, square,.and stuff the cushion in the usual way. Trim tile edges with a pretty furnishing braid iu the predominant colour of the design.