LETS GO GOSSIPING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3801, 28 August 1936, Page 4

LETS GO GOSSIPING

WOMEN’S INTERESTS: THE HOME. (By MISS MARY TALLlS.—Special Service to Te Awamutu Courier.)

FASHIONS. BELTS, ACCESSORIES, ETC. This season the waist line is rather low with a downward dipping movement at the back. Belts decorated with coloured ornaments and flow- ■ eis are placed at the normal line but sometimes curve doVnwards at the back or have a widened lower edge which fits to the top of the hips. Empire style coats were cut rather high waisted with clasps fastening across the chest and shaped as though from a deep yoke, while the shoulders were square and broad. Buttons take on some queer, fantastic shapes flying birds, beetles, nuts —and things of steel, iron or wood rather than the common place affairs with which we are familiar, and Lightening zip fasteners are placed over placket holes or bodice openings instead of hooks and eyes or press studs as they are not only quicker, hut give flatter contours, obviating . the bulkiness of hems. The new style in hairdressing shows a distinct tendency to grow ■ higher. The hair is combed upwards with curls towards the top and showing the ears. In Paris, short hair is combed upwards to form a roll all round the ■head and kept in place by small jewelled slides. One striking style showed the roll in the form of a heartshape at the back, with the point going* to a peak in the nape of the neck. The hair is rolled back from the face and small curls stray round the centre parting. Yet another way is to keep the hair short and comb upwards, with curls forming on the top of the head. The Hollywood clusters of curls at the back is still in favour with many women. Where they <re wom a flower is poised flatly at the back, or on top of the head, or a Spanish comb is placed on the crown. Molyneux’s upstanding tulle frill in colours to match the frock was perhaps the most original headdress. Low heeled bootees accompanying sports outfits were shown in two colours, heels and soles contrasting with the uppers. Shaped like American over-boots, they had a turn-over “cuff” round the ankle. Some are slashed, sandal fashion,' and laced or strapped on. Silk serge is a new fabric for suits, a fine silk jersey with supple draping qualities for evening dresses and a transparent gauze-like organza for long evening coats.

BEAUTY. ’ MILK AND YOUR SKIN. When you have been out motoring ; or. cut in a high wind and come home t. with a stinging, roughened face, let , milk soothe it. Use it by itself, i warmed to blood-heat, or whisk it up s' with a little almond oil. Dip a piece of cotton-wool in it and wipe the pad very gently over the skin. Keep smoothing the liquid into your skin until every bit of dirt and grit has been washed away. Gently blot up any milk that remains on your face, so that the skin is left slightly moist and ready to be powdered. If you are going straight to bed, a layer of, nourishing cream will complete the cure and restore Your skin to normal by the morning. • Milk is a good refiner of pores, and mixed with various ingredients makes some lovely face masks which soothe—and nourish too. Here is one for the Dry Skin: Mix a tablespoonful of almond meal with enough warmed milk to make a paste. Clean the skin with almond oil or cleansing cream, and whilst it is still moist from the oil, spread on the meal and milk pack. Lie down for a quarter of an hour and then remove the pack with warm water and pat in some skin tonic. And, believe it or not, milk mixed with yeast is also good for the greasy skin:

Mash some yeast to a creamy paste with a little milk, and after cleansing the skin thoroughly, apply the paste, avoiding eyes and brows and the hair-line. Leave it for half an hour then wash off with warm water and splash on cold water as a finishing touch. Sour milk or cream is excellent for getting rid of wrinkles: Mix it with an equal quantity of honey and use it as a pack for the face, including the skin under the eyes, the lids, the neck, and the throat. It will take about half-an-hour to dry. Lie down and doze, and when you wake again your skin will feel as velvet as a December’s rose. Remove this pack with warm water and give your face a cold splash afterwards.

Slight wrinkles under the eyes are kept at bay by the sour milk and honey treatment, but for more serious cases milk or cream, thickened to a thin paste with kaolin is a quick treatment. Leave the paste on the skin for three to five minutes and take it off with warm water. The kaolin may be obtained at any chemist or most stores.

Although this is a good external treatment, don’t rely on it entirely, for circles and pouches under the eyes usually have their origin in an internal disorder and, until that is put right, no face pack ever invented will completely erase the ugly circles.

I THE HOME. FILMS AND DECORATIONS. Do you realise how much the white scheme of decoration in houses was due to the film “sets” ? -JVe went to films and saw these exquisite white rooms and went home and did likewise. It didn’t occur to us that the film people used white because it was necessarily the most becoming background to us, but because it was the only one they could use without colour? But now that there are colour films we shall be inspired from this film and that to colour schemes for our houses, for there is, of course, no influence so strong as what we see at the movies.

Anthony Asquith, the expert, has the theory that the colour films, to be a mad success, are only waiting for one thing; the secret of how to give texture with colour. You see, he points out, the films show a woman’s pink cheek and the outside of a ripening apple as one and the same colour. Well, so they may be, a blend of pinks and off-yel-lows. But the difference in life lies in the texture of the woman’s cheek as soft against the hardness of the apple. And that difference they have not yet got. Texture of surfaces and getting the effect of all between you and the hardness of the subject painted has been, after all, the greatest problem of all painters and the film people have got to face much the same, thing.

COOKING. MORE DORSET RECIPES. DORSET POT CAKE. 12 oz. flour, 3 oz. butter, 3 oz. lard, 6 oz currants, 6 oz sultanas, 3 oz fine sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, i teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda.

Put all dry ingredients into a basin, beat the egg and milk together (about 1 gill milk is required), and stir them into the flour, etc. Mix well, and put into a greased fryingpan or greased pot, and bake slowly. Cut open, butter, and serve hot. If half this mixture is baked in an E-inch frying pan, the time required lor cooking is 45 minutes in a moderate oven.

JUGGED STEAK. 1 lb. steak, 1 large onion, 4 or 5 cloves, 1 oz. flour, salt and pepper, veal forcemeat, small bunch herbs, a little port wine. This is a very popular way of cooking steak when a rich, thick stew is not wanted. Cut the meat into neat pieces, pass through seasoned flour, that is, flour to which pepper and salt have been added, put the cloves in the onion, and cut it in half, add pepper, salt and a small bunch of herbs. Add just sufficient water to cover the meat, and the port wine, if liked. When it is half-cooked add small balls made from veal forcemeat. Continue to simmer until the meat and balls are cooked. This dish is improved if served with redcurrant jelly and, if preferred, the forcemeat balls can'be baked in the oven.

I HOUSEKEEPING. STORING BLANKETS ETC. At the beginning of spring there is the problem of what to do with unwanted blankets and the eiderdown that we hope will be unnecessary for at least some months.

The golden rule applies throughout—and that is, they must be perfectly clean and dry. Blankets should be washed, dried, and aired thoroughly. The wise housewife will select her thickest and warmest blankets to store for next year, using the more worn, and consequently thinner ones, for summer.

The greatest enemy to blankets is moth —indeed we might consider the moth the housewife’s bugbear during the summer. One very good hint is to add a little alum—about a handful to two gallons of water—when washing blankets, as moths will not attack so readily when blankets have been washed in this way. It would be advisable, however, to use camphor, naptha balls, or a dusting of moth powder, between the folds .as well, and to sew the blankets into a piece of old sheeting. An eiderdown is a rather difficult problem during the summer, as if it has a silk cover it is best not to fold it and place it where it is liable to be squashed flat, for the silk may crack in the folds. If possible, roll it up in a bolster shape, and enclose it in a cover specially made for the purpose. If a pretty cretonne cover is made, it can then be laid on the ottoman or couch in your bedroom, or, folded lightly, placed in an armchair to do service as a cushion. If the latter course is chosen, be careful that it is well “fluffed up” every day.

GENERAL. HINTS. Sponges: Properly looked after, a sponge should never become slimy or unpleasant to use. By making a practice of steeping it once a week in hot water, to which the juice of half a lemon has been added, you will keep your sponge in perfect condition all the time.

Old Patterns:'Old pattern blocks of cloth can be made into good polishers for shoes. Cut the patterns off within half an inch of the solid block. The block itself forms the handle, and the loop is useful for hanging up the polisher when it is not in use.

Travelling Bottles: When moving er travelling, tape down all corks in the bottles with adhesive tape or sticking plaster. Washing Fragile Articles: On a windy day, place all silk stockings and other fragile articles in a pillowcase and peg it on the line. This will prevent delicate fabrics becoming twisted around the line and torn, and it will be found that they dry very quickly. Cooking Veal: When cooking veal, pour over it half a cup of fresh milk, and let it stand for 10 minutes. It will cause the flesh to be whiter, and the outside crisp and brown. Transfers: To stamp transfers on to a rough or woolly surface, press the material well first with a hot iron and a damp cloth. Then place the transfer in position, lay a thin damp cloth over, and press with a hot iron. Button-holes: Before making but-ton-holes, machine-stitch the mater-

ial according to the size required, before cutting. This will prevent fraying. Apples: A few apples baked in the dish with a joint makes a roast dinner more enjoyable, and will also aid digestion.