A Housewife’s Diary

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 63, 16 March 1938, Page 14

A Housewife’s Diary

Hints About The Home Broken Cups. Use cups that have had handles broken off as “basins” for making little steam puddings. Tonic Bath. Bath water in which has been dissolved two tablespoons of starch is advocated as a tonic for the skin. Using Plaster. Instead of water, use vinegar to mix with plaster of Paris, as this makes it more pliable and easier to handle for filling up boles or cracks. Blinds. A way to clean linen blinds is to sprinkle them over with silver sand and then to rub with stale bread. Sewing. Fingers are inclined to get hard with much sewing but this can be prevented if they are occasionally dipped into an adjacent bowl of fine oatmeal and boracic powder and the mixture rubbed on the hands. Wet Boots. When drying, stand them on their heels so that the air gets in at the bottom. Soles dry much quicker by doing this. Chipped China. A small “chip” on china can be rubbed smooth with sandpaper and danger of injury from it avoided when the china article is being washed. Tobacco Tin. li. small piece of raw potato in a tobacco tin will xeep the tobacco nice and moist. Euttons, For “woollies” make buttonholes both sides and sew buttons on to a tape so that the buttons can be removed when “woollies” are to be washed. Wool Frock Trimmings. Knitted and crochet trimmings to wool frocks are the thing this year, and if you have a plain frock that is inclined to be dull, try the effect of a pair of patch pockets on the skirt and a round yoke in knitting. Square pockets are the most practical kind, but if you want more decorative shapes, knit, or crochet your circles, diamonds or leaf patterns, and applique them to square pockets of the dress material. Gilded Furniture. Gilded furniture is to be the distinctive 1938 touch in home furnishings. Elegant tables with fluted gilt legs and tops of gold-baked tiles represent the new trend, but they need the right classical background. More practicable for the average house are bedroom suites of sycamore wood sprayed with silver-gold. Creamy wallpapers that look as though they hau super-fine gold dust blown over them are new and attractive.