MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 May 1931, Page 7

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(Notes By

Marjorie)

THE KITCHEN COMPLEX.

WARNING TO HOUSEWIVES

All housewives must guard against the kitchen complex! For once they allow the kitchen to rule their lives they will lose all spiirt, charm, and individuality, and may well endanger their hexilth.

We all know the woman who is tied to the kitchen. At first we feel sorry for her, a\nd blame a cruel fate, or a cruel husband, for working her too hard! Sometimes our sympathy is justified, but often it is not. Often enough she ties herself to the kitchen, and will not allow' herself to be weaned from it on any account. It is true enough to say that a housewife’s work is never done. But then there is no house under the sun that will not produce yet another job ripe for doing if you search around. However well kept a, house may be, there is always something else that needs doing; but, having performed the essential tasks, it is wise sometimes io let some of the not-quite so necessary tasks wait. This particularly applies, one feels, to periods when no domestic help of any kind is available, and during the winter months, when housework is more irksome, and cheerfulness and strength not quite so capable of coping with it! Having once cultivated a, kitchen complex, the housewife convinced that nobody can run the kitchen, and from’the kitchen the whole house, so well as she csn. She refuses help half the time because she’d rather do things herself, then she “knows they’re done properly!” If, anybody offers to take a piece of work or the preparation of a meal out of her hands she does not seem able to rest outside the kitchen, and will often enough keep running in and out to see how' well or ill that hive of industry is getting on without her. Instead of resting, as her good Samaritans intend her to, she finds herself other jobs to do!

She should beware, for if she is not careful she may develop into the type of woman who at first will not rest, and finally cannot rest. And that type, to say the least of it, generally prove a trial to other people as well as to themselves. Their eternal restlessness writes finis to any peaceful or restful atmosphere once and for all The woman with a kitchen complex wears a perpetually worried expression, and is seldom seen other than in overall or apron. She is interested in practically nothing outside the kitchen, and quite obviously she does not find that very interesting! On the rare occasions when she leaves all kitchen matters behind she is generally too tired and worried to enjoy herself.

In very bad cases the housewife will take many of her meals in the kitchen because she has not time to have them decently. A sandwich and a glass of milk taken on the corner of the table to save time -s well enough in an emergency, but in the .usual way it is better to take the sandwich an.l glass of milk in another room, if only for a change of atmosphere. Certainly, if the kitchen is at all unattractive or depressing, the rest of the family should not be persuaded to have meals there as a general rule, even to save time. Kitchen meals soon develop into a habit, and soon enough the house seems to be all kitchen, and the vision of every member of the household narrows down to the trials and tribulations of that one room. In the winter a question of warmth may be a main reason why many people migrate to or stay in the kitchen—and for this very reason it is advisable, whenever it can be affor ( ed, to make a, point of having adequate warmth in another room. Where there is a. fire anybody will go. and if there is a. lire in another room a busy housewife is much more likelv to snatch a few minutes rest and respite when she can. There is, when, all is said and done, something to be said for liny, crowded kitchens, for it is almost impossible to develop a kitchen complex in these! They only admit of kitchen jobs, and too many people simply cannot be in them at the same time. No, it is the large and more comfort able kitchen that is the cause of the trouble!

The woman who has a. kitchen complex. and knows it, will do well to arrest the trouble in. time! She should remember that In this hard world people do not thank you for sacrificing yourself to household gods! The average husband would rather have a smiling wife and a. little dust than no dust and a worried wife.—Answers.

LINEN INDUSTRY.

THE ROYAL TASTES

An interesting exhibition arranged by the Linen Industry Research Association has been in progress for some time at the Science Museum, South Kensington. Extra, prominence was given to it recently by the visit of the King and Queen. Their Majesties were received by Viscount. Craigavon, Premier of Northern Ireland, who has naturally taken a great, interest in the exhibition.

As they examined the various exhibits, Their Majesties stated clearly what w'ere their personal tastes. “I prefer Irish linen, and every shirt I have comes from Belfast,” said the King. “I am very particular about that.” When the King and Queen were shown a, tablecloth of the latest design /with reproductions of well-known London view's, the King said. “I prefer large, simple, and bold designs, such as the poster designers use.’ When examining some hand-painted tablecloths, the Queen said: “Personally, I much prefer white tablecloths.” The King agreed. The Linen Industry Research Association, whose laboratories' the late Mr Massey visited on his last trip to Northern Ireland, has been doing some remarkable work for a number of years. The aim of the research is to mechanise the i fibre production processes as a whole, without sacrificing, and. indeed, if possible, enhancing the quality of the flax fibre produced. Careful selection is also being made With seed so that the farmers may grow a greater amount of fibre on a given area. How little advance had been made in the growing of flax and the manufacture of linen from earliest times up to a few years ago is illustrated at the present, exhibition. A series of photo, graphs illustrate primitive methods of working flax in ancient. Egypt compared with similar methods used in Northern Ireland within living memory. They were much the same. The wooden scutcher and the mallet of recent and those of ancient Egypt are practically identical in shape.

Flax cultivation and linen manufacture has been carried on for at least 7000 years, but it is only within the last hundred years that any appreciable departures from the old hand methods have been introduced. Nowadays the tendency is to mechanise the industry in every way possible. Three illustrations are particularly interesting. These are greatly magnified photographs of three samples of linen. The first is, a piece taken from an Egyptian tomb and is 7000 years old. A second piece from Egypt is 3000 years old, and a. third piece is from Northern Ireland, and is a year old. There is certainly not much to choose between them.' Perhaps the Egyptian fabric is a little roughei in texture. The breaking ,a ml the scutching and the retting in ancient Egypt was much on the lines of meth ods in Northern Ireland up to quite recent Limes.

One photograph illustrates a branch of manufacture which Jias gone out oi fashion. This is an Egyptian carpet made of pure linen. The picture shows a fine example of an early Egyptiau carpet from the tomb of Sa-aa of the XVIII Dynasty. It is made entirely from flax.

BLEACHING THE FABRIC. • Every process of the manufactitre of linen is dealt with at the exhibition. What an elaborate process the bleaching is is probably not generally known. The old-fashioned way of‘bleaching linen was to wash the fabric repeatedly, and expose it to sun and air. Under modern conditions a. more rapid process is necessary. When the fabric is woven it is first singed to remove the superflous fluff. Then it is put into slacked lime; the black sour process follows which, entails soaking la solution of hydrochloric acid. It is then boiled in soda, after which it is spread on the grass. When this exposure to the air is complete the material is chemicked —that is, it is immersed in a dilute bleaching powder solution. After the chemicking operation the cloth is washed and soured. This completes the first “turn.” It is then again washed and boiled in dilute soda solution. Boils in alkaline solution subsequent to chemicking are known as scalds. After the scald the cloth is washed chemicked for the second time, washed again, soured, and then washed. This completes the second turn. Damasks usually require three turns for the production of a full white colour. Heavy sheetings may require as many as six turns.

Final processes are blueing and starching, and beetling (which has the effect of crushing out the yarns and closing up the spaces in the cloth). Certain classes of linen goods, for instance, glass cloths, are not given such heavy, finishing prpeesses as, say. damask napkins, and instead of being beetled are mangled in a hydraulic, mangle. Mercerisation is still another alternative final process which consists of treating cotton or linen fabrics under tension with a solution of caustic alkali, whereby swelling of the fibre is obtained and the fabric made more lustrous. Naturally, an important part of the exhibition consists of the finished material. A fine display of Irish linen sheets, table cloths, handkerchiefs, and other articles has been much admired.

MORE FASHIONS.

COAT-OF-MAU> GLOVES

Shiver coat-of-mail gloves are among the new' evening accessories. Hand knitted in silver thread, with deep gauntlet, cuffs to the elbows, they appeared with a white satin gown at a recent; parade (states the "Daily Mail”). Several interesting new materials, including a. georgette woven with a. gold lame stripe, were- shown. This was used for a. pyjama cocktail .•mil with stiffly outstanding vertical Hicks on the trousers, giving it a curiously wooden soldier-like appealance. rwenty-0110 yards ot scarlet, gcol'ge.lto were used to make another suit, which had Ihreo-incti wide tucks from waisl. io aukle. \ special display of informal day suits included vividly coloured dresses of wool and fine flannel with long coats of plain-coloured wool and hopsack. A vivid lemon-yellow dress had a. long, straight coat of black wool, v-ipp i black, lemon, and red checked.

silk scarf threaded through the revers. Heavy corded silk, beloved of our grandmothers, appeared in a day suit, the sill; having quarter-inch wide diagonal stripes of black and white.

I'Jmliroidercd materials such as lit.en. georgette, shantung and voile were used by Fifinella for simple outdoor suits. Salmon-coloured linen, embroidered with small flowers in the same colour made an. effective twopiece suit of frock and long coat. Sleeves were an interesting feature at this :-how. A nut-brown georgette coat had frilled elbow sleeves and was worn over a. long, fight-sleeved frock of the same colour. A similar capeliki’ effect, was gained 011 other frocks by malting a. double sleeve, the upper one merely a short frill extending from shoulder to elbow. Several practical suits consisted of a. tailored frock with a hip-length coat, to Match, the frock having a deep lingerie vest and cuffs.