PERFORATIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

PERFORATIONS

NEW STYLE OF TRIMMINGS. DONE WITH A PUNCH. The most popular form of trimming this season is a matter of subtraction rather than of addition, of cutting away rather than of sewing on. Quite the smartest of the new berets rely for distinction on their patterning of perforations. Taking the centre of the crown for a meeting-place, curved lines of perforations float symmetrically towards the circumference. The perforations are not necessarily circular. Some are oval form, others diamonds. If one has a stright eye and steady hand, it is an easy matter to decorate the cloth or felt for a hat of this description with a stout paper punch bought at a stationer’s. The cheap cloth felts accommodate themselves better than the expensive fur felts to this mode of treatment, and a chic result can be secured by supplying an elaborate perforated design to a white cloth felt, if the wearer be fair, or to one of peach-pink or beige for the brunette. Perforations mark the season’s shoes. In the case of tennis shoes the decoration is of a practical nature, giving welcome ventilation. The perforations are invariably confined to the vamps. The newest fishnet stockings are in an openwork design that conveys the effect of a series of perforations. Fishnet gloves, for wear with the shortsleeved frocks of the moment, produce on the arms the same illusion of consisting of cleverly arranged perforations. TAKE A LUXURY BATH. MAKE YOUR OWN BATH SALTS. Is your bath just a duty, a mere perfunctory soap and water scrub ? Or do you get real pleasure and benefit from it? Softened perfumed water is such an inexpensive luxury these days that every woman should indulge in it for her health’s sake and reap the benefit in a refreshed and invigorated feeling. Bath salts may be made at home quite easily. Good soda crystals are very cheap and may be bought at most of .the

multiple chemists. Borax crystals cost a little more, but are well worth the extra outlay. Spray the crystals with a little water-colour dye, add a few drops of oil of lavender, verbena or any other perfume which you prefer, allow them to stand for a while to absorb colour and scent, and dry in a cool oven before bottling. ' . . Perfumed oatmeal may be achieved for a few pence, also. This makes the bath water delightfully soft. Put a pound of the oatmeal into a large jar, and add to it a few drops of verbena or citron oil. The oatmeal costs 4d, an ounce of the oil 6d.

Do not hurry over a bath. The best time to take it is before the evening meal, when the work and worries of the day ought to be over and an hour or so of relaxation can be looked forward to. Have the water quite warm, arid soften it well with oatmeal or bathsalts. Lie in it for a few minutes, the water well covering the body, and rek-: thoroughly. Then use plenty of good soap, applying it with the hands or with a flexible bath brush With loop ends. Rinse off the soap and relax again in the warm, soothing water. After a thorough rub down with a soft bath towel, take a piece of cotton wool and go all over the skin with bath eau de Cologne or lavender water. KEEP YOUR CLOTHES WELL AIRED Well-aired clothes are necessary to good health and hygiene. How many women realise this fact. They will put sheets and pillow cases to air in a lump before the kitchen fire—hanging them on a guard or clothes-horse at night—and go to bed serenely sure that their duty to the household, so far as airing goes, is adequately performed.

The fire is low and soon goes out. The outside of the sheets, towels and pillow cases are aired, true —but what about the insides ? Even at the risk of a certain amount of creasing, every sheet, every pillow case, every garment that has been washed should be turned inside out and the whole of each subjected to the drying influence of a fire or a warm room.

Damp sheets spell colds, bronchitis, rheumatism, influenza and other ills, while damp body-linen accounts for the same sort of troubles.

If the day is a bright dry one, clothes should be allowed to hang in the sun, for sun and wind not only dry but also disinfect linens and woollens. When the clothes are aired and ready to be put away see that the chest of drawers or cupboard in which they are stored is not placed against an outside wall. You cannot guarantee that such a wall will be dry, and, if it not, a certain amount of moisture must penetrate to the clothes.

Always have furniture in which clothes are stored in a' dry, warm position in the room, and your linens and woollens will keep aired. When drying woollens after washing do not put them before a big fire. Moderate heat with an old bath towel beneath them to absorb the moisture is best ' .

IN ELSA GULLBERG’S STUDIO. dressed' with elegance. An entry half-way down one of Stockholm’s most fashionable shoppingcentres—the Regeringsgatan, whose plateglass windows beckon to the smartlydressed women who pass up and down it, with their displays of Swedish hand embroideries, of Orrefors glass—as delicately engraved and spun as the products of Venice; of suits of those subtlycoloured woven materials which give to Scandinavian products their particular chic. One climbs a shallow staircase to the second floor, and, pushing open a swing door with “Elsa Gullberg” written across it, enters a wide studio whose polished floor is strewn with hand-woven* rugs, while tapestries and other fabrics hang from the walls or gleam in softlycoloured heaps about the floor and chairs. This is one of the most famous centres of modem Swedish textile weaving. It has made itself known all over the world, and its owner, Madame Elsa Gullberg, has won a unique position both by her originality and sense of design, and by her organising capabilities and business acumen. She comes across the floor from an inner room to greet you—slim, dark, and still young, dressed with an unobtrusive elegance which pays attention to the smallest details and suits her personality like a glove. Maybe she will show you a queerly archaic design, hand-woven on coarse linen, fit for some such ecclesiastical purpose as the curtain hanging of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, or the ancient Norwegian church of Trondjheim. Or she will let you finger the charmingly modern designs executed by the artists on her staff for the fabrics used to furnish the Crown Prince’s new country house. “That is an original design,” she says, pointing to a basket of flowers woven on old rose damask, “but it is not, as you see, in the modem manner. I tried to get as closely as possible to the spirit of the time in which the set of old French chairs for which this fabric was woven were made. Their owner did not want just a slavish copy of an eighteenth-century pattern; she preferred something in keeping with the period, yet original. That is why, when lam asked—as Iso often am—to design the curtains, rugs and chair coverings, for some new country-house, I always prefer to go there, see/the furniture and its owner too, so that my work may fit, her personality as well as her belongings.” “Do you like that linen damask curtain, called ‘The Circus?’” The design showed a formalised arrangement of circus motifs, jugglers, performing elephants, and so on worked in scarlet threads upon ash-grey. “It is quite amusing, in the modem manner. However modem our expression may be, it is, as you see, definitely Scandinavian, and owes nothing to the ideas of other countries. We have built up our ideas from the Swedish women of yesterday who spun and designed their own weaves, sitting by the log fires of their manors and farms. Once let' us lose touch with them, in an effort to become international and we lost our soul, that is, our originality.”

RECOMMENDED RECIPES.

A Delicious Fruit Cup. This is very nice for parties, and can be made with any kind of mineral or soda water. To one quart of water allow the strained juice of two lemons and two oranges, and one large apple, peeled, and cut into thin rounds. Add a little castor sfigar, a dozen or so of glace cherries, and allow to stand for half an hour before serving. Pour this cup into a glass jug, and add a good-sized piece of ice to it. If you have any fruit juice left over from tinned fruit it can be added, and will make the cup delicious. Some people add a little red wine, and a bottle of ginger beer, mixed in at the last moment with the ice, is also very nice. Custard a La Reinc. Ingredients:—Jib. cooked chicken; salt and pepper; 1 onion; horseradish; small cupful white stock, 2 tablespoonsful boiled rice; 2 eggs; parsley. Cut the chicken into small pieces, add salt, pepper, chopped onion, grated horseradish, stock, and rice. Mix thoroughly. Beat the eggs for five minutes and add them to other ingredients. Mix again well, turn into a well-greased fire-proof dish, stand the dish in a tin of hot water, and leave in a moderate oven till the custard is set. Serve at once, decorated with tiny sprigs of parsley and fingers of fried bread. Married for 75 Years. Both 95 years of age, Mr. and Mrs. Napoleon Bonaparte Irish, of Orillia, Ontario, Canada, have recently celebrated the 75th . anniversary of _ their wedding. They were bom on adjacent farms near Cobourg, Ontario, and were friends from early childhood. They have lived in Orillia for over 50 years (states an exchange). Mr. and Mrs. Irish have two sons, three daughters, 17 grandchildren, many great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, who is a year and ahalf old. To Clean Suede. Suede jackets and sleeveless waistcoats which have been much worn often look stained and greasy about the neck (states the Manchester Guardian). Their appearance may be improved if the marks are rubbed with a clean rubber ink-eraser. After this treatment the suede should be lightly brushed and then given a final rub with a piece of clean, dry loofah. Marks on suede gloves and shoes may be successfully treated in the same way.