WOMEN’S NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 168, 17 June 1936, Page 5

WOMEN’S NOTES.

GENERAL. (By Miss Mary Tallis.) Handkerchiefs. —To-day is the day of the collector; so why not start a collection of handkerchiefs. Some have such a romantic history, handed down from mother to daughter, besides being real works of art in their heautv of design and perfection of workmanship. It is an easy collection to keep as it takes very little room, but it demands care. Periodic inspection is necessary to ward off the deteriorating effects of time. Dampness affects fine fabrics, and it is wise to give your precious bits an occasional airing.

The pretty Queen of France. Marie Antoinette, who used to play at being a shepherdess and had the most beautiful wardrobe, decided that handkerchiefs ought to be made in a square shape, and ever since lier time, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, they have been made square, but larger or smaller, according to fashion.

The handkerchiefs of old days were quite large. Sometimes they were embroidered on gossamer linen in scal-lop-stitch and satin-stitch, and some of this work dates back to the times when ladies wore crinolines and carried their pretty handkerchief daintily lyetween their fingers. A frilly effect around the scalloped edge is obtained by fine Valenciennes lace sewn under the embroidery.

Some of tin 1 pretty handkerchiefs of old days can be used .as small tablecentres and look most original. A very large one. tacked lightly on a pastelshade cushion, makes the most exquisite baby pillow for a treasure rot on a very special occasion; a christening for example. Every kind of lace embroidery is adaptable to- handkerchiefs. Collect them and treasure the associations wrapped up in their folds-—a very charming and interesting liobby. HTNTS. To give an added lustre to silver, dissolve some alum in water, making a strong brine. Skim this carefully and add a little soap. Bottle and rub plate with linen rag dipped in the solution.

To prevent the juice boiling over in a fruit tart, and so staining the sides of the dish, never omit to make a hole in the upper crust. Insert a straw perpendicularly, and the steam will escape as through a chimney. If two soups are served at dinner, the clear should come before the thick, or puree. If only one is served, a clear soup is preferable. In choosing a soup for a dinner, care should be taken that it does not contain anything which will appear later in the menu. To restore velvet when crushed,_ hold it wrong side down over, a basin of boiling water, and you will find the pile will gradually vise. It takes some time, but the result is most satisfactory.

Beware of a pussy-willow in a room where there are carpets or anything that moths destroy, as it lias a. great attraction for the pests. Walls often become marked round light-switches, and an excellent way ot preventing the dirt showing, or ol covering up finger-marks already there, is to paste a strip of wallpaper frieze round the switch. This should match the frieze in the room or, if there is none, buy a strip of simple narrow frieze that will tone in with. 30m plain paper or distemper.