ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8364, 26 February 1913, Page 5

ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS

Tho artificial florists have attained a degree of perfection in the manufacture of .roses, violets, camellias, carnations and anemones oi all colours timt is unprecedented, says a Paris writer. The Paris florists have always been celebrated lor this work, but It is only of late that each workgirl has become a specialist. ilio pink rose, the red rose, the rose of each denomination, the newest specimens m the horticultural world, and the oldest and perhaps sweetest scented, is studied and copied by a specialist. The worker is so impregnated by the quality and shape of the flower, by the nature of the stem and the colour and veining of tne leaves, that she reproduces a flower that seems almost to breathe. In the roses this year the work has been so admirable that it has seized the Parisians, and they are preferring the present of an artificial flower—one long-stemmed anilleafed red rose—to a basket of the most beautiful of natural flowers. On January Ist sprays of orchids, colossal, monumental- edifices of begonias, lilac, pomtsettias, azaleas, will be pouring in to many a home, but the one artificial rose will perhaps give more pleasure, as it will be lasting, and can be worn by day or night. Another of the secrets of the .success ot these roses is the perfume with which they are impregnated, for after much research the leading firms, who employ the greatest number of workgirls, have obtained the natural scent of the flowers. Holly and mistletoe are also being offered as New Year gifts, in two large sprays attached witli a silver horseshoe and bows of dark green velvet ribbon, ihe mistletoe, with its little white berries, is frosted, and recalls the years when frost and snow were with us, and were w-hat we used to call seasonable. Iq-day it rains, and the sky is grey; it is warm and dirtv. The scarlet berries on the .holly have never been more plentiful, and their brightness is welcome in our homes, in striking contrast to the dull, drizzling rain.

COMBINATION OF CROSS-STITCH AND EMBROIDERY PATTERN.

EFFECTIVE DESIGN FOR SHIRTWAIST FRONT AND COLLAR AND CUFFS. A combination of cross-stitch and embroidery is very effective on a shirtwaist. It should be used on either side of the box-plait in front, and on collar and cuff's. A band may also be worked down the centre of the back if desired. The embroidery is done in the solid satin stitch and the rest of the design in the cross-stitch. The design may be reproduced to any length desired. Coloured mercerised cotton No. 18 will be suitable for this pattern.