USEFUL HINTS

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 26, 20 November 1930, Page 6

USEFUL HINTS

Cretonne was fashionable a few summers ago for frocks, but cretonne was very different then! Perhaps that was why people followed the fashion, and why .the fashion itself grew discouraged and faded away.

Cretonne has progressed since then! This summer it h,as returned to us, triumphant and it certainly does not stop at frocks. Indeed, the cretonne coat is more popular than the cretonne frock. It may be a short coat to wear over your tennis frock after play, or a fuU length coat to cover a light frock.

Cretonne,. hate,'/large'.'.and. small,' are fashionable. The large ones are possibly

t . ■ . - more attractive and particularly suitable for beach wear and sun-bathing. A beach suit, if you indulge in such a thing, may be made of cretonne, pr you lii&y prefer a beach wrap of cretonne rather than of coloured towelling. If you choose, this you have to match la bathing bag to carry your bathing things.

It is indeed a welcome fashion, fpr designs have never been more colourful and original than they, are now., Mowers of eve^y kind and colour; most of them never yet seen in any garden, flaunt their beauty on well-chosen backgrounds. What could be more suitable for a summer day? We feel so comfortable about the price, too; Some are as low as a shilling a yard, and many are reversible.

Go to the furnishing department for your cretonne and don't let any store guide waylay you and direct you to the dress materials. You'mil get-a-.Better selection and a better bargain in the furnishing department. Prom a frock the design should be one on the small side, for a coat the may be bigger and for a hat it should be bold andi. bright. Big coloured flower designs look especially well for a hat.

Your-coat and hat may match if you are haying a cretonne hat, but if it is a garden or: beach coat you are making get a yard and an eighth extra, so that you can carry your cushion to match. <

Baby's training in manners must be gin^as soon as he can toddle and express his likes and dislikes. This is not difficult with things that can be seen, handled.

When children are provided with their own table furniture, such as blunt knives and spoons and forks of suitable size, they will take a pride in copying and behaving at the table "just like mummy and daddy"—a hint to their elders to be at least as polite to each other 'at table as they would be if guests were present. Similarly, they can be taught to be tidy with their belongings if tidiness is the rule of the home.

It is when we come t6 what may be called the abstract virtues, such as unselfishness, courtesy and consideration for the feelings of others that child training reaches a more difficult stage. We don't want our children to lose their naturalness ana become self-conscious, but we do need to help them to fit in with the social arrangements they will find about them when they go out into the world. "*

Schoollife "knocks the corners off" the selfish and ill-bred child, and more quickly than anything else teaches that it is no longer the centre of the universe it may have felt itself to be at home.

If a child does not wish to share sweets or fruit o rallow other children to touch its toys, don't make the mistake of scolding or calling it selfish or greedy. Point put instead how happy it will make Johnny or Tommy to share, and how pleasant it is to be able to give pleasure in that way. There are few children who will not respond Jo such suggestions. The method that makes the baby mind glow with the feeling of having done a kind o^right thing is always Beautiful linen is the ambition of every housewife. But it is a big item of the best

expense so that increased knowledge of its care is always appreciated. ;

Pure linen is, of course, rare and terribly expensive. Jl more practical material for reai hard wear is a mixture of linen and cotton. The proportion of cotton is easily discovered by the feel, for the more cotton contained in the mixture" the softer it will be.

When a iarge quantity is being bought a sample should first be tested by soaMng ia olive oil for half afa hour. Then dry between blotting paper and stretch the sample on the window. The linen in the mixture will be transparent and the cotton opaque, so that a glance will determine how much of each is present. ■ ■ • ■ ■ -.' ■'■ .' ■;■ -;:' '• ,■ .■

Damp and moths are the two biggest enemies of linen. The ravages of moths is a well-known experience. Damp rooms are responsible for rot and mildew. To successfully combat moths, lill linen should be stored with balls of camphor, ana examined at least once every two months. It is kept a good colour during storing by folding in several ?ayers of dark blue tissue paper. Damp can be avoided by storing the liicu in a cupboard or cheet near the hot water boiler, and the shelves should consist of strips of wood rather than a solid board. The air can then circulate Vetter. Each kind of linen should possess iis own separate shelf and) the shelf in turn should have a small labei showing the kind and size —whether table or bed linen, etc.

It is advisable to have all linen marked. Marking ink may be used, but a more satisfactory method is to use the readymade tabs—small strips of tape upon which initials are, embroidered. These are sewn in the top left-hand corner.

.Any economies which can be affected should be carried out. Old bath" towels make splendid dishcloths when cut to a suitable size. Two sheets when cut to worn thin in the middle may have the centre folds cut away and be joined together to form a single, sheet A tablecloth may be transformed into table napkins for every-day use.