Home Made Attire.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 967, 12 September 1890, Page 5

Home Made Attire.

PRESSES. There are constant queries among thd young and middle aged, how shall I buy and make at home a nice blackUtvoollen dress. Nowadays every womsd wants a black wooL len gown, at once stylish and convenient for home or street wear. As to the materia 1 ; get a jet, oir blue black silk warp Henrietta cloth or a briljiantlne. Trim with black silk cord pasaetaenterie, in Vandyke desigus tin the skirt as a border, each cuff, round the collar as a yoke, or three points in front only, and, as a girdle aoross from each side seam| with the points up, A second plan is to have fnU sleeves of silk and velvet, or passementerie collar and caffs, and short zouave jacket fronts of the same. Cord passementerie in blaok and gold trims other blaok costumes ; and some matrons have gathered side breadths, vest, collar, and enffs of black armure silk, but it is better judgment te make up such a standard gown of the one • material, reserving the combination effeot until it has to be made over. In regard to the making, a princess back, pointed basque front, and Blightly draped skirt front is a becoming style for stoat and matronly figures; the sleeves may be coat-shaped, with a full. peBB over the top. Younger ladies have this now highly favoured princess back, with * round or jackeji-fiqnt, or a trimmed skirt bearing a frill, straight, or pleated back, plain front, and one side draped high, or a draped front and flat sides. The bodice may be short and bluntly pointed, back and front, with the full front confined at the top by three Vandykes of cord, pointing downwards from the lower edge of the collar, and a ribbon four inches wide, folded narrowly round the edge of the basque and tied on the left side of the back ; or Vandykes on the lower edge, point up from each side’s seam. The sleeves are full at the top, have cuffs of one Vandyke each, and the entire skirt, or front only, may have a border of the same stylish trimming. THE POSTILION BASQUE. Somebody, some very nice body, has asked about a postilion basque. It is the one of all others that seems always in style, and it is adapted to any material, though, as a iqatter of course, when in its perfectly siiqple state, it looks best in cloth. Many postjliqq basques of green, claret, blapk, 05 gray are being made for wear with black skirts, or, as is occasionally seen, with qottop ones. postilion basque must fit well and smoothly j it must dread wrinkle as a woman does. Fitting well does not of necessity mean fitting tightj but it does mean a"close fit which is one that is shaped exactly to your figure as a glove is to your hand. Everybody knows how ugly q tight glove is—now, a tight flodice is equally ugly. A pretty basque is of ot black diagonal cloth, lined wjth the cottqn sating gold for that purpose, and which is liked by many, as well as a sjlk lining. Bointed in front, the arches oyer tfle hlp3 are gradual though decided, and the square tails of the back are iu positive pontrast. The centre seam at the back is left qpen almost, to the waist line, and on each ride is a row of small, black buttops. The froqfc js closed from the throat to the with sjip^S r buttons, and op the outer sidp of ttyc cqat sjeeye arq four of them that may bq unbuttoned ijf opejwishes. The collar is a high, plain curate.' Wiih ttys is %oi;n a large hht, wreathed with roses and Having two tygh iqops of gan?e ribbon standing np just in front- A postilion basque must have, to be n success, truth in its ipnermpst parts. l The seams must be well sewed, the whalebones perfectly placed, the buttonholes Well worked, and the buttons looking as if they were fixed for life. A green cloth of this description is to be worn ovsr a black lace skirt, and with it a bonnet of black lace, decorated with the green velvet roses, on whioh Dame Fashion—not Mother Nature—has set her seal of approval. AN EFFECTIVE HAT. A smart hat properly put on is of straw, of a light wood colour, and in shape the * spoon ’ or ‘ Bhovel 1 hat, a modification of that worn by friars of long ago. The trimming consists of a mass of violets and their foliage, put well at the back on the crowD, but extending far enopgb fqrwapd to give glimpses of the purple blossom and its fresh-lookjng Icnyes. Two narrow straps of green velvet, out'off the bias, are brought forward over the brim, and the ends are made into loops just in front, Anybody could trim a hat like this, but in doing it be careful of one thing—try and make your straps perfectly smooth—a wrinkie in them will take away from the air of style that belongs to the hat, A WORD ABOUT HATS. The real glare of summer is in many cases avoided by the broad brimmed hat af wAfch Dame Fashion approves. It may be made of , some fine English straw or Leghorn, but the brim must be properly narrow at tho' back and broad enough In front to really protect the eyes. It is worn forward and the hair is usually braided and knotted at the back. Any colour one fancies, or any flowers that are like may be used ; but the flowers must look ae if they were just plucked, while the ribbon must be arranged in the low long loops wLich Dame Fashion has approved of.