CARE OF VELVET

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21378, 30 December 1932, Page 11

CARE OF VELVET

During a velvet year an axiom is never to sit on a wicker chair. Really considerate hostesses are having flat cushions made for those chairs which leave their imprint behind, but there are also rush chairs which do an almost equal amount of damage. Velvet to-day is light and delicate, and the artificial variety is much more apt to crush than that made of real silk.

To/bring velvet back to normal again, a good deal of steaming is necessary, and ironing is also brought into play, always with regard to the fact that velvet cannot be pressed in the ordinary way. Steaming is done most easily by tying the skirt of the dress round the spout of a rapidly-boiling kettle and allowing the steam to pass up through the dress and out at the neck. A few minutes with the neck closed does away with all but the most desperate marks. Where ironing is to be done, there aro jtands made by the French which grip the iron by tho hancUo upside-down. The velvet is then passed over the irqn, instead of tho iron ovte* tho velvet, the smooth side naturally being placed against the iron. It is not difficult, in the absence of an iron-holder, to have one made. Upon a fairly wide . square of board two 'strong upright pieces can be nailed which just enclose the iron handle, the back of the iron Vesting on the pieces. A bolt of wood at each end keeps it in place. The bolt need bo no more than the small piece of wood which is often used to keep a rabbit hutch shut. The base of the stand had better be > fairly big, so that it is firm, since the weight of the iron is apt to make anything le.ss top-heavy. Velvet, by these two means, can bo kept fresh until the pile is actually destroyed..