HOWTO MAKE YOUR CLOTHES LAST LONGER BY INCREASED CARE AND CLEVER ALTERATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1020, 10 July 1930, Page 4

HOWTO MAKE YOUR CLOTHES LAST LONGER BY INCREASED CARE AND CLEVER ALTERATION

WHEN the statement is made that careful buying is one of the most important methods of lengthening the life of clothes, one may be reminded of the Irishman who replied, when asked how fighting at the fair could be prevented, “Stop it before it begins,” but every woman who knows how to obtain the greatest degree of satisfaction and efficiency from clothes for herself and her family will agree with its truth. The factors that should govern the selection of clothing are: purpose for which required, comfort, durability, economy, and artistic qualities. Before proceeding to make your purchases: 1. Decide what amount you can spend on clothes without having to stint on other important household necessities. 2. Go over all garments in hand and decide what (a) is ready to wear, (b) needs a little freshening, (c) is worth re-modelling. J. Estimate what it will cost to put the old clothing in order and to buy the necessary new material. Roughly speaking, and always remembering that circumstances alter cases, the portion of your income that ycu decide can he safely spent on dress should be apportioned, as follows: Suits, coats, dresses, costumes, jumpers, skirts, 51 per cent.; hats, shoes, stockings, gloves, 24 per cent.; underwear, 20 per cent.; accessories, ~5 per cent. It is possible for a woman on a small income to lie well dressed herself and to dress her family well if she will: 1. Plan the clothing of the household according to individual needs. 2. Buy with care and intelligence. 3. (Perhaps the most important of •all). Systematically and thoroughly care for her own clothes and for the clothes of those for whom she is responsible. Perhaps the mistake wC are all most liable to make when purchasing clothes is lack of consideration of the purpose i'or which they are required. Good strong washing materials for working dresses can now be. obtained at prices within the reach of all, and such dresses, made with sleeves reaching only to the elbows, comfortable open necks and useful pockets, always look neat and appropriate. But we still occasionally see the deplorable spectacle of a woman engaged in scrubbing and other rough cleaning attired in an old crepe de chine evening gown in trout of which she has tied a coarse sacking apron, a combination that immediately gives the impression of hopeless unsuitability and poverty. Another point with regard to clothes that is too often neglected is their suitability to the season of the year. Provide summer and winter clothing advance of fhe season, so as to run !i<> risk of being an object of universal pity by your winter colds and summer clothing in June, or of being suffocated' beneath gaberdine skirts and close felt hats in December. Remember that summer wear is most injurious to winter clothing, just as winter weather is destruction to summer garments. It is very desirable that no article of clothing that can be put away clean should ever lie put away dirty. Besides many other objections to the putting away of dirty summer or winter clothes, there is the fruitful source of infection they would provide. Careful: laundering is the most satisfactory method of renovating silk, crepe de chine, gaberdine, serge and many other materials. There is no greater aid to the lengthening of the life of clothes than care in nutting them away after each time of* using. Hats should he carefully brushed, stuffed with tissue paper and placed in a box or other receptacle where there will be no risk of their becoming dusty, coats and costumes brushed and shaken and placed on suitable hangers, and boot-trees placed in shoes directly thev ure taken off. Repairs to buttons, strings and gloves* which unrepaired make the best appointed costume appear shabby, should be attended to at once, and it is a wise plan to set aside some special

1 time every week for attending to this , matter of repairs. If repairs to under- • wear arc necessary, they should always i f )C made before the garments arc lun--1 tiered, as, in this case, the stitch in time saves far more than nine. The amount of time spent by some ladies on the mending of stockings j would almost induce the belief that new ; ones cannot be obtained for love nor ■ money, and the only excuse for spendi * n g such an altogether extravagant j amount of time on these particular arti- ! cles of dress, whilst others of even more j importance arc proportionately negi lected, seems to be that they arc worth { darning again because they have been ;so curiously and furiously darned bc- , fore. One afternoon a week ought to be I sufficient to mend all the stockings of . the household, and have them put away in their appropriate drawers. The girls of the household, as soon as they arc old enough to do so, sliould take pride and pleasure in mending their own stockings. Stockings that are not hopelessly worn can be used for a variety of purposes. They can be carefully ripped open and sewn together again to make warm, cosy rompers for baby; they make splendid polishing cloths, and most delightful pussies, gollvwogs, balls, and other toys can be evolved from them. It is safe to make a general rule that when the constant repairing of old garments demands more time than would suffice to make new ones, it is well to replace them, and convert the articles no longer worth mending into some garments from partially worn and which their better parts may yet be lit. Procuring good and available smaller garments' from a partially worn and shabby ones is a real economy, whilst the constant mending of things not worth the time and thread bestowed upon them is a practice that it is hard justify. At our various H.E.A. exhibitions we have bad many illustrations of the really beautiful children’s garments that can be made from the worn garments of adults. For instance, from a man’s worn shirt, either a dress for a little girl, blouse or shirt for a small boy. a child’s rompers, or an overall apron for a child of two; from one worn nightgown. two pairs of child’s underknickcrs: from men’s worn trousers, a beautiful winter suit for a girl and what looked like a tailormade overcoat for a boy; whilst from mother’s winter skirts beautiful suits for both boys and girls were obtained. In the rc-inaking of coats, the problem is encountered of cuttiug round the set-in pockets. Sometimes the pocket may be ripped out, the hole mended, and a patch pocket put over it. If the pocket comes almost at the bottom of the pattern, trimming bauds may be used to cover it. Old household linen that is too worn to l>e used longer for its original purpose may be utilised in a variety oi ways. Table cloths may be sterilised and used for bandages, or the best pieces can be made into serviettes and tray cloths. Sheets may be made into smaller sheets for the children's beds, the best portions can be used as pillow cases, or they may be dyed an attractive colour anti used for bedroom curtains. Blankets can be made into smaller blankets for the children’s beds. < r both sides may be covered with pretty cretonne, quilted, and used as outer covering of beds. Turkish towels make good face cloths, bath mits, dish and floor cloths. If this work of repairing and remaking sometimes seems monotonous and uninteresting, we may comfort ourselves with Fay Inchfawn’s lines:— Looking past all my failures, frets, ami jars. Somewhere among the stars, God secs the -perfect thing— The finished garmnet ready for the wearing. No crooked stitches and no puckering. No careless tearing. Ah, well, the thought the dream, is !I’~ design Not mine. To disobey or doubt hint were u »iu: I’ll thread my needle and—-begin. *