VELVET IS THE VOGUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21784, 25 October 1932, Page 13

VELVET IS THE VOGUE

Velvets and velveteens are being used this season right through the wardrobe (says a writer in the Daily Mail). Not only evening gowns and coate, but hats, suite, and gloves are made from these fabrics.

They are, of course, the most flattering of materials—provided they are treated with the distinction they deserve. How often, for inetance, are they left unbrushed and neglected! Actually, it is the easiest thing in the world to remove dust from velvets and velveteens if you use a pad covered with a piece of real mourning crepe. Or, better still, have a brush with a piece of this material wrapped over the bristles. Creases can be removed by holding the wrong side of the velvet over the steam of a kettle. If a ring velvet dress is creased, hang it up in the bathroom while a hot bath is prepared Obstinate creases that will not yield to these treatments can be removed by passing the wrong side over an iron with a piece of damp cloth between the velvet and the iron. The velvet must be kept moving all the time or the imprint of the iron will be left on the material. The iron must be held upside down for this purpose, of course. If no proper iron-box is available it can be supported between two 'in boxes of the same height. When cutting these materials, do not attempt to cut any part of a pattern through a double thickness. Use steel pins or needles for pinning the parte together, and tack everything with closer tacking stitches than for ordinary material. Before machining velvet, loosen the two screws regulating (1) the tension of the thread, and (2) the pressure of the foot. (This screw i 8 at the top of the machine, on the steel bar that jumps up and down with each stitch.) Seams can be pressed by opening them out and passing them, on the wrong side, over an inverted iron. Where capes, skirts, and flounces are unlined, many leading dressmakers are finishing the edges with two rows of machine stitching placed very closely together, one being on the extreme edge. The material is trimmed away on the wrong side close to the inner line of stitching. This makes a neater and more effective finish than picot edging, if it is well done.