EIDERDOWNS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21879, 15 August 1934, Page 5

EIDERDOWNS

HOW TO RENOVATE Eiderdowns are often re-covered at. home by carefully machining a fresh cover precisely on the lines of stitching of the old one, producing a heavy, stiff and airless covering. This is not a clean idea. If the eiderdown must be recovered at home the best cover is a loose one just made to size, with big eyelet-holes for ventilation immediately above those on the original quilt. It can be made to button along one side and made of washable fabric —as in Germany, where it goes to the wash with the sheets —or of jap silk or a thin sateen which adds little to its weight. It is really wiser to send any old eiderdowns away to be cleaned and remade, when they will come back greatly increased in bulk and warmth. The feathers are drawn out through a hole in the old quilt into- a machine which cleans and purifies them. They are then forced through a hole into the new covers, so each customer gets back her own feathers intact. In this way, with possibly an outlay of a few shillings on additional feathers, is produced a full eiderdown at the same price as a possibly unattractive new one with far less filling in it. For those who do not approve of eiderdowns charming bedspreads can be made of padded chintz, the machine stitching merely outlining the flowers or figures on the design in such a way as to make of them araised pattern with a delightfully rich and quaint effect.