WOMEN’S NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 210, 4 August 1934, Page 11

WOMEN’S NOTES.

FASHIONS

(By Miss Mary Tallis.)

Children’s Spring Fashions.—Pink coats, blue coats, yellow coats and buff coloured coats—all tell you that spring is hero again, even if you hadn’t noticed that the trees and the flowers are all preparing their new outfits! Everywhere there are signs that winter is behind and every little girl and boy seems to be wearing new clothes. But just as soon as they are all settled into their spring outfits comes the need of getting ready for summer, and every mother who does her own sewing is already laying in stocks of pretty cottons to make summer frocks and suits, so that the fine weather to come will permit every possible hour to be spent out of doors. This coming season we are to see more linens than ever before. Heavy linen in natural colour is being made up into smart little coats and finer linen in printed and plain effects is being bought for frocks and suits. Simple ginghams in blue and white and red

" and white checks are going to be popu- [ lar favourites. You will like these, too, L because not only does gingham remain unsoiled for quite a long time, but it is l also very easy to wash and iron. Don’t lose a minute in getting the new frocks , and suits made. | BEAUTY, i The deep breathing and taking in of ■ great draughts of pure air is one of the i surest roads to good health and a clear complexion. It is Nature’s own beauty treatment, and it is yours for the taking. Do not worry because your dressing table does not boast a large array of beauty preparations. Make the most of the world’s greatest skin-tonic rainwater. This acts like a charm and suits even the most sensitive skin. On occasions when you want to give your skin something a little extra in the way of cleansing do it with milk. Saturate a pad of cottonwool in a saucer of milk and rub it gently all over your face. Leave it for a few minutes to get semidry, and then wipe it off. If your skin is dry, massage it well with pure olive oil. Your hair will not be so likely to need lotions and tonics if you go without a hat as much as possible. Those who live in the country can keep their figure young far more easily than those w-ho live in towns. There are many more facilities for taking exercise. They can skip without a crowd of neighbours watching, and skipping is one of the best slimming exercises yet invented. Walking, too. This is often a penance in towns, but nearly always a pleasure in the country. Think, while you are swinging along through the country lanes, or on the soft springy grass, of those who have to take their walks on hard, uncompromising pavements. THE HOME. Old Jill Jugs.—lf you are tired of old, blue dinner-plates, put on the shelves above oak-panelled walls, or if you’re bored with pewter, cold and grey, which looks somewhat depressing in dim halls you’ll find jill jugs will make a welcome change, and whether they are quaint or very rare, as far as charm and decoration go, they give both colour and a novel flair. Some in rough glaze and some in egg-shell china, liko blue lace threaded through with trails- of gold, with handles blown upon their sides, looking as if they scarce their weight would hold. Some of them thick and stumpy and demure, some with raised flowers encrusted on their sides, some so enhanced by their antiquity they look like old-world presents for young brides. You’ll find the whole effect to be intriguing vdien all your little jugs are quaintly stood upon the shelf casting their blurred shadows in soft reflection to the polished wood. NEEDLEWORK. Covers For Your Coat Hangers.— An embroidered coat-hanger cover is made of pale coral-pink dress linen, embroidered w’ith scattered sprays of daisies in shades of blue, rose and deep cream. To give character to the scheme the centres are worked in a variety of yellows: copper, buttercup, palest lemon, and a sort of greenish yellow. So long as the groups on either side are placed evenly the arrangement does not matter. The position of the petals in the flowers is marked by placing a threepenny piece on the material and encircling it with a series of dots, in pencil. The little sprays of foliage are done in stem-stitch and the tiny leaves are single loop-stitches. The hem is finished with a fancy overcast-stitch in pale blue. Three strands of the cotjon are used throughout. An attractive border design would look equally charming and can easily be worked out on paper—ordinary kitchen or grease-proof paper will do—and then tacked on the material and traced by holding it up to the light. Or, it could be drawn straight on to the material, if the middle line is drawn in and worked over with w’hipped running. The design is made by ruling a straight line and then using a small cup or lid for the outline of the curve on either side. Measure with a slip of paper the distance of this curve from the centre line at the widest part, so as to be sure to get each of the ovals even. At the juncture of the curves put three little daisies. The curves will look well worked in fern stitch. To make it easy for those of you who do not like composing your own design, you can obtain transfers and iron them on to your material. This kind of design can be varied by leaving out the curves and working instead lines of stitching, broken at intervals with groups of daisies. In this case a thread can be drawn to get the first line straight. Borders such as this are charming, not only for working on a variety of household articles, such as dressing-table runners, chairbacks, and lmnd-towels, etc., but also on children’s clothes.