LAST MINUTE GIFTS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 72, 17 December 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

LAST MINUTE GIFTS

Accessories for the Horne Arc

Easily Made

J-JERE are a few suggestions for ‘’last-minute” Christmas gifts suitable for your "house-proud” friends. Any of these novel and yet practical presents may be carried out with only a single evening's pleasant occupation, and the recipient will certainly value such useful and decorative accessories to her bathroom, lounge, kitchen or bedroom.

r pHE first suggestion is a waste-paper box. An ordinary cardboard box is utilized and covered merely with brightly-coloured paper. The shops are well-stocked with daily-lined papers al the moment. Choose a thick one and cut out four squares to fit over the tour sides. Cut each one half an inch wider all round than the box sides measure. Lay the papors flat upon a Im rd surface and cover the wrong side of each with a thin coat of good sticking paste. Do one piece of paper at a time and apply it before commencing on a second one.

Smooth the paper on carefully, folding that extra half-inch over the top edge, sides and bottom of the box. WJien the box has been covered, the! inside may be treated with another colour- of the same paper. Here cut out a square for the bottom of the box first and stick this into place. Allow the extra half-inch as before and smooth this up the sides of the box. Next cut the rest of the paper to be applied inside in one long piece. This must measure half an inch more than the four sides added together, for the length, and the same exactly for the width. Apply the sticking paste and insert the paper, the edges of this covering all the edges of the previouslyapplied outer papers.

The next thing is the decoration. Take a few scraps of spare velveteen and, with the aid of coins and a sharp pencil, cut out a number of circles. Apply these to the sides of the box with the sticking paste and your work is complete. A box is suggested for our bedroom novelty also; this time a very decorative hatbox which will strike a gay note in the wardrobe or on show in a corner of the room. Take an ordinary round

millinery box and buy sullicient cire, or “patent leather," satin in nigger brown, black or dark grey to cover it. The satin may be laid on in one piece

round the curved sides. A circle must be cut for tlie lid and a long strip for the edge; do not bother about neat edges here as these are covered in the final work. The inside of the box may be lined witli coloured paper or some jap silk in a pretty colour. The latter make.a very sumptuous affair of the box, and costs very little, as it is one of the most inexpensive of silks. Stick only the edges of the silk down if this is used. When the box is completely covered and lined, take a length of artificial flower-trimming, obtainable for a few pence a yard, and stick it along the upper edge of the lid as may be seen from the illustration. Then take a huge artificial I‘ose or as large a cluster of artificial flowers as you can, and either sew or stick it to tlie exact centre .of the lid. The effect is really lovely and worthy of the prettiest of bedrooms and the smartest of hats.

In the bathroom, one of those jolly “back-scrubbers” in towelling would be welcomed, for it is daintily coloured and yet practical. It is formed from four facecloths, each a different shade. Two loops of tape or thick ribbon are stretched across the narrow ends for holding purposes. Vla'Ce the end of the first facecloth upon the end of the next and machine it, aud so on till the four cloths are joined up into one sensible length. The length of towelling thus formedmay now be folcjed over, and tlie double edges buttonhole-stitched to give more thickness and firmness. Buttonhole stitch may be worked over the joins also to tone with the edges.

What could be nicer for the kitchen than a set of glass, gaily-topped jars for rice, sugar, tea, coffee, etc.? A delightful set may be formed from humble jamjars. Choose those with tin caps and enamel, the latter in the predominating shade of the kitchen

for which they are intended. No labels are required, as the contents may be seen through the glass, but they may be added with the names tea, coffee, etc., written or painted in ink the colour of the painted tops, ii you wish.