Ladies Column. [Edited by " Clio."]

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 82, 7 April 1894, Page 1 (Supplement)

Ladies Column. [Edited by " Clio."]

The Editress will be glad to answer any questions pertaining to fashions or cookery. Answers to Correspondents. Miss E.L.T. — I cannot find a satisfactory way of cleaning a gray felt hat, but should think spraying it with ammonia and water (not too strong), and then hprnyiug with warm water, a good plan. I have heard Sunlight Soap will take out stains. FASHION NOTES. Mercury wings adorn all the new hats and bonnets (says a writer in a Home paper) . A most delightful little bonnet that a fiieud had on the other day was formed of two black and three white roses, and white lace butterfly wings. Black and white is always pretty. The bonnet was of the Marie Stuart style, but very small. I thought it prettier than anything I had seen for a long time, and said so. Then my friend told me that she had made it herself, and that the whole thing had only cost her five and threepence. Just fancy being able to get a smart bonnet for five and threepence ! 1 do envy women with such light, clever fingers. . One of the prettiest toques I have Been was of sunburnt straw, trimmed with a wreath of black roses and two pale blue velvet rosettej. I don't think you would often find anything smarter, but if you prefer something not quite so striking you have only to turn to the other bonnet, or rather capote, to which I quite lost my heart. It is of tancoloured cloth — the shape suggesting the Puritan— and is edged with a baud of olivegreen velvet, the back being prettily gathered into a bow of the velvet. At each side is a wing-shaped bow of velvet, lined with cloth, while at the left side is also placed a tiny green bird. A dashing hat was of lemon-coloured straw, fastened up on one side with a big black moire bow, and trimmed on the other with black feathers frosted with jet. A fan is a seasonable gift for a girl. I have just seen a charming oue for a debutante. It is of white watered .silk, beautifully hand-painted with bouquets of orange blossom. Fans for dinner parties are half the size of those used in ball-rooms, and modelled on the old French pattern. They are made of white silk puinted with "VVatteauesque pictures. There are many novelties in spangled funs, and a pretty example is of Uauk Chautilly lace, embroidered with green sequins. Cheap and effective fans are of white lace run with» rows of coloured bebe ribbon. As to the outdoor garments for the autumn, jackets will entirely take the place of capes, so the possessors ot the latter may make up their minds to consign them to oblivion, to be replaced by the newer favourites, some of the smartest and most elaborate of which are to be made with long pelerine fronts, and short, very full basques at sides and back. I think that, on the whole, the change will be a welcome one, for we have had suoh a surfeit of capes that the charms of the jacket will appear in an additionally strong light. Besides this, they are likely to burst upon us in renewed smartness and novelty, as, indeed, by rights they should, considering the long rest which they have been enjoying. The latest novelties iv ladies' smokingjackets are of Japanese silk, lined with silk of a contrasting colour, and beautifully hand-embroidered on the sleeves and down the front. They are of the same shape as those worn by the sterner sex, and fasten with cord :iud buttons.