IN FASHION'S REALM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3414, 20 August 1919, Page 57

IN FASHION'S REALM.

WEEKLY UP-TO-DATE DRESS NOTES

By MAnouEßiTa . The trend in fashions is demonstrated to some extent by the difficulty in describing them and breaking new ground at the same time. The oversea journals that specialise in the modes reveal the limitations of tho reviewer in the terseness of the references to anything whatever. There is the picture, but the usual long notice in advance i s missing, and it is because there is so little to say. In a word, the spring modes are largely the winter ones "sprmgibed by either omission or admission—certain things left out as being unsuitable and certain things introduced as being necessary. The lines are straight—in fact, could not be straightcr, arid, spaaking generally, there is a high-waisted effect' with frocks because of this, with very deep girdles to make the simulation easy. Collars are rounded and close, aind rounded and standing off the shoulder: V'd slightly and much, and often both by crossing the long rovers well up; and skirts are much shorter, at least' for those of youthful years, than we are led to believe in the advance reports. Tho panel is an important feature with many frocks, tho straightness of line often making it imperative to reduce the width. The panel I refer to is the one from the neck to the hem of the skirt, this being broken by the girdle in some cases and going over it in others. When it does go over it, there is generally a break provided by means of a cross seam and a couple of buttons to suggest that the upper section has been buttoned to the lower. When the panel goes under the girdle or, rather, the girdle over it, there may be an embroidered section just above and again beiow. The whole art is to reduce the monotonous effect of the straight silhouette. Again, panels of this character are embroidered at the neck, and may, in audition, be touched up in the same way on the lower part of the skirt. Of course, everything hi this way depends upon the material. I have in my mind plain ones. The exquisite voiles that are coming in, with their fast colours and lovely designs, and likewise the excellent checked ginghams, and so on —these provide their own ornamentation, and adding to it would bo like gilding the rainbow. Touching these materials more particularly, frocks of such will frequently have white collars and cuffs, as, say, with a floral voile a white collar with a frill, and cuffs ditto, and with a checked gingham a scarf-width white collar, plain, the cuffs to correspond, and if there are pockets on-the skirts then the upper half of these in keeping. As to coats and skirts, the coat will be a real spring one and tho sports for preference. I observe that these coats, or such as I have been able to inspect at such short notice, seldom meet. _ That is to say, they are worn with a "hiatus" for all the belt, and show in this interval the dress, which with a plain material for the coat may be a check, and with a striped material for the coat a plain. The long stole-like collar border is decidedly good, but there are plenty of others. Pockets are a feature, and nearly all I have seen are divided off, as with a plain material by some stitchery, and with a striped with a white upper section" to match the collar, cuffs, and" belt. Tho collar is decidedly a feature, and where is the selection that is prettier than the sailor?—one the ofwhich rise from a point at the Waist, spread to the shoulder width, and then resolve themselves into a flap at the back of some depth. The combination of two materials in a coat and skirt is practically general, and sometimes there may be three, as with a skirt with a moderate pattern going with a plain coat, with the collar, cuffs, and upper pocket section in contrast to both. The spring millinery will be comparatively simple, and, if I am any kind of prophetess, the summer will be equally so. It will be ribbon that will play the chief part in adorning the best models, and the treatment of this will bo in every artistic form possible. Spring brings rip embroidery, and this time to some purpose. To get rich results by simple stitches, and as an effective means of covering large designs or forms, couching stitches will bo found very satisfactory. Tho work is best; done over a frame or hoop. What is known as diapor couching is the most serviceable form of couching. It is mado by taking a long stitch dia/ron'ally across the design to bo worked, then one at a distance 'of oneeighth to one-quarter of an inch, and continued in this way across the space. Then cross tbepe linos diagonally with other similar lines at equal distances until tho entire spaca is covered. Now, with a group of short stitches of contrasting colour, tack down these long stitches at the intersections with a cross or single stitch. When each crossing or intersection is tacked, the entire form or desigv is to be This .work is quickly done and is effective, and good for large centres on conventional flowers, and for open places in fancy forms_ such as scrolls or curves. If the space is first covered with satin stitch and then finished with the couching the effect is rich and lovely. When the couching is added a large space may bo worked in satin stitch, for the couching holds the long stitches firmry in place. By making intersecting Hnes > in Kensington outline stitch, and adding little cross stitches at the intersections, an effect like couching may be obtained. This plan is good on fine table linen, where careful execution is more to be desired than broad, bold effects. Outline is the plainest form of couching.. In this several threads are laid to follow the outline of tho design, and am held in place by a short stitch across tho threads. This stitch is most employed to cover the edge of a material that has been applied to the under fabric. Twisted couching .'s also used for outlining. In this stitch the threads follow the plain outline of the form, and the second thread of tho same silk, of self or a contrasting colour, Is twisted over it and caught

to the under fabric, at the point where it comes beneath the straight strand. Brick couching is worked by laying rows of silk or thread or cord parallel along the form or space to be covered, and tacking them in place with cross stitches, alternating this in each succeeding row. .This stitch is good for conventional designs. Forms of fancy couching are effective, handsome, various. One of these, the diaper couching, has already been mentioned, 'ihe different styles of iancy. couching are obtained by the securing stitches. Diamond couching is like the diaper couching, but the threads are crossed more on the slant, to form spacing in diamond shapes, between the lines. The interesting lines are tacked down by short single or cross stitches. Diagonal couching has the silk laid in close parallel lines, but with no crossing or intersec tons. The tacking stitches are placed to form diagonal linos over the space to be covered. In weave or basket couching the threads of silk are laid over cords and secured with short stitches. To make this stitch, lay rows of linen cord parallel in straight lines across the space to be covered, tacking them in place with little stitches. Then lay the silks to cover these cords (two threads together) in parallel lines at right angles to the cords. Tack these silk threads with a short stitch at the beginning of the work, aaid then between every second row of the cords covered, drawing the silk close to the material between the cords, and tacking over the two strands of silk. Secure the next two threads of silk likewise, but alternate the short tacking stitch. The entire space should be worked in this way, the ends of the silks fastened on the wrong side, and the linen cords cut close to the pattern edge. Vandyke or " V '4 couching worked in one row forms a pretty border. "With a number of rows placed close together a solid surface may be covered. Mark the space to be worked with two light lines parallel, and lay the linen cord in points from one side to the other of the enclosed space. Lay two threads of the silk lengthwise of this space, tack them with short stitches on each side of the cord and where they cross it. Draw the silk close to the material, leaving the outline of the, cord in relief. Fill the space with silk threads two at a time, and when all are tacked the Vandyke effect will be apparent. Block couching is a stitch that is good for backgrounds or filling in elaborate work. First lay the silk in parallel rows; then work over it to form squares or blocks, the size of which are to be governed by the space between the parallel rows of the silk, which, in turn, should be determined by the size of the space to be filled, and also by the class of work. Frill weave couching will make a nice border and a fine finish for elegant work. It is made over a cord, the silk being worked back and forth across the cord, forming an undulated edge on each side. Iwo threads of silk are placed together at one time, and each thread is tacked to position on both sides of the cord. Someone or other has this to say in relation to the latest in Paris, though not necessarily from it: "The French woman saunters out into he broad daylight these times in a frock that shows a generous expanse of silk stocking. ' Decollette,' says the arbitrary fashion lady, so frocks for the street are cut extremely low, both back and front, and bodices and blouses are literally apologies. Every smart woman is a Madame Sans Gene. Sleeves are rolled to follow the fashion that was the dailv mode of the famous friend of Napoleon. Betimes there are r,o sleeves at all, and to make up for the lacking long gloves are in, but are not always donned. Daring, however, touched its zenith in the correct evening gown. To be iiltra-fitshionable, a frock for a big function must have no back at all. A neck chain of jewels is the permissible medium that preserves the decencies. On that frail chain rests the tremendous responsibility of keeping the front bodice in position, for a model frock from a good house is much like that theorem in Euclid which elucidates on something that has length without breadth, and. one might add, neither diameter nor circumference, and precious little else." Touching which, I have observed that these gentle little diatribes are not always borne out by the fact. We read the awful description, but await the picture. It is seldom as bad as said. If hats very over-much, as they promise to do, it may be because our purses are being wooed by so many purveyors. England sends us hers; France, I suppose, hers again, and Japan, perhaps, hers, if she has got so far And America assuredly sends us hers, as I observe many models that could have originated nowhere else. Returning to coats, is_ there any name for a coat that is not quite one, and yet is more than a coatee? One of the most delightful of. spring coats is a quaint little garment that hangs on somewhat extending lines, i;? short, is worn open, has buttons and buttonholes for ornament, shows the blouse, has a "py jama-like" _ collar, boasts of c'ther close sleeves or flaring ones, and, finally, has its pockets sot so far down that there is little more than the "flap" above the hem. They are jaunty garments that seem to favour all. For my inclination to ss,v that they are more suited to youth than age has been checked by observing a dame of advanced years and anything but a slight figure in just such a selection, and all the better for it. In her case the coat was caught across the front with cords, pendant or festooning from button ornaments or ornamental buttons. FREECHES FOR HOUSEWORK. With servants' wages soaring to impossible heights many of us will have to accept the inevitable and do the housework ourselves (writes Florence Runson, in the London Daily Mail). But we may just as well have suitable clothes to do it in. Labour-saving appliance advertisements glibly tell us that with them we shall be able "to get all the work done by 11 o'clock in the morning. But I know that we shall not get done by that time, or anywhere near it, if we go trailing around the housework in a skirt —too long, or too full, too short, or too skimpy, a thing that always gets wet round the hem—and a blouse which, when we bend, always comes out, frillwise, at the back._ There is only one suitable "uniform" for housework, and that is breeches and a smock, very much the sort of garments that the land girls wear. You can't wash a floor with any kind of comfort or quickness in a skirt which, whenever you kneel down, has to be pulled up, and whenever you get up has to be pulled down. If you are going to wash or polish the floor on your hands and knees — a much more workmanlike way than using

a mop—the only comfortable way to do it is in breeches, with a kneeling mat. Alter the first time I did the housework •in breeches I wanted to dance with the ease and pleasure of them. But women's breeches are an advance on men's. They are not held up by braces, for, as every woman knows, brace buttons are bones of contention and the cause of very many matrimonial squabbles. An elastic or belt is much more tempersaving. Over the breeches a cotton coat or smock with nothing to hitch up at the back, or tear at the arms, and cooly open at the neck, and what more could woman want ? Of course, the first time one goes to the door to a tradesman you may both feel slightly embarrassed, but no one now looks twice at a girl in breeches in the street, so why should it be less decent or more conspicuous to wear them in the privacy of one's own home? And when numbers of women have the sense to wear breeches for housework, no one will be surprised and the houswife's uniform will just be looked upon as another step forward in the march of women's progress.