DOUBLE DUTY CLOTHES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 793, 14 October 1929, Page 5

DOUBLE DUTY CLOTHES

By A THRIFTY WOMAN ! I never buy a frock without coni sidering its value after its present ' existence is finished, and the result J is that no one ever believes my dress i allowance to be so small as it actually •is! I can recommend this habit iu j selecting clothes. j Here is an example. I saw two | pieces of chenille velvet, one blue and , one violet, equally pretty and bei coming for an evening frock. Why i did I choose the violet? Because ; my drawing-room cushions, which are J grey backed with black satin, will need the grey side renewed in a ! year or so; violet chenille will be ; beautiful, but blue would be wrong I for the room! For this reason also, I had no “cutting about” in the draping of the frock—l shall want the back and front widths of the skirt quite plain for cushions. When the time comes, the money which would have gone on the cushions will be saved for another dress bargain. Then X had to choose between two afternoon frocks. One was of lovely stencilled material; the other was of plain stuff, made graceful with yards of silk fringe. Of course, I took the fringed one because it had a future i value—that fringe will mate a cheap, | simple little frock look most expenI sive IS months’ hence! The most ; thriftless purchase is the frock where I all the cost is in its beautiful material, too conspicuous to be used in contriving another dress and not of a type suitable for any home-furnish-ing purpose. A glance through the “junk” box, and when you want an evening frock you can sally forth and buy nothing but three yards of georgette. With the fringe off one dress, the hip buckle off another, the odd strip of diarnente off ano; her, and the wellcut underslip which decided you in favour of last year’s gown, and the humblest home dressmaker cannot fail to produce something that looks worth ten times the cost of the georgette. One good “professional” underslip is the greatest help for the amateur.