HOW AN AMERICAN GIRL TRIMS HER HATS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 11577, 12 October 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOW AN AMERICAN GIRL TRIMS HER HATS.

Smart and Inexpensive. (Keiu York Sun.) The girl whotirnalies a tailor-made appearance on a shirt-waist income was telling her friends how she 'had made> over two hats into perfect beauties at a total cash outlay of Idol 50 cents. "Now, girls, let's talk hats, and let me do 'the talking. Have you adopted a colour scheme for your -hats as well as youi dresses? Well, you must. When the season opened I tackled my box of millinery and took en inventory °of stock on. 'hand'. I found I hadi a large hat of fine black straw an*, a snort-back sailor of fancy ecru Straw, and the usual assortment of flowers, foliage, ribbons and feathers. " For uie act of transformation I had the sum total of sdol. Now, girls, put this in your hat, and I don't care if I did s>ay it, because it's apropos. There are two extremes of hats that camntit be disguised into anything but their true selves—tlbe shirt-waist hat and the picture hat. These stand' for two distinct types, though, the picture bat is possible with a dressy shirt waist of batiste or similar sheer material, and the shirt-waist hat is adaptable to more

frocks than its name would indicate. But •never let your shirt-wail* 'hat have a feather or your picture hat sport a quill. " This is what I did. I grappled with, the short-back sailor first. To.make it 'a la mode' I wired the brim three times with half-inch spaces between, each wire being covered with a tiny bias fold of black vel- j vet. This made it possible to bend thei brim down close to tEe hair at the back, while it (gave to the front and sides a stiff and new appearance. I banded the crown with inch-wide black velvet' ribbon, freshly steamed and brushed, ending in a drooping bow and ends at the back. Then I found an old 1 piece of satta, made a large chou of it, and placed it in front, a. little toward the left This was the permanent trimming. Them, with a square inch, of stiff buckram as a foundation:, I made several smart rosettes, to be fastened to the hat by means of two snap ibooks, such as are I nsed for closing tin* plackets of skirts. I " Take notice of that, girls, for I'm going I to have the scheme patented. Two halves of these snap hooks I placed on the stiff j foundation of the rosette and sewed the j two corresponding sections firmily 'to the hat I in, the proper place. The entire colour j scheme of the hat I could in this way I change without trouble or delay. See? ; For instance, with a white pique skir; ar.id ' shirt a large chou of Amerioan. Beauty I taffeta would be snapped into place just ' back of and a little above the 'original chou • of black satin.' In front and below the large j black satin one would oome a smaller rosette • in a, lighter shade of the same pink. I "For shirt waists of blue I- called into > use some old turquoise ribbon, the shabby edge being covered with a tiny binding ol black velvet. With this I used a smallei rosette of white taffeta, the edge also bound '. with r olack velvet. I also ted 1 a large white taffeta chou, which ccisld be used with this . small white cue, the large black satin resebts coming between- 'the two others ir each case. The changes for the' shirt wais! ■ hat are completed with a butch of biighl red cherries that I bought at a Sixth Avenu: . bargain counter, and attached under a feno ■ '■ oi narrow black velvet to a small buekran ', foundation. I " But thei large black hat. The crcnvi r '■ was good, and I left that .as .it was. Th brim was already faced with black chiffon ' so that the only thing necessary was t.i r drape a bias piece of chiffon on the edge the ends meeting under a large 1 knot i 1 front. When, the weather was fine I woui j thrust through this chiffon knot the stem a ' of two 'long black plumes, aitowing thei

to- outline 'the edge of tha halt, the ends held in place by ordinary black pins, which the fluffiness of the feathers quite concealed. " Then I looked over my stock of roses and trimmed the frayed -edges with very sharp scissors. These, with a little mew foliage, I wired! into a loose wreath, fflasily adjusted over 'the crown and quite filling the space between the crown and the edge of tih-s brim. This -lay im position with no other fastening than -the ordinary fancy hat pins. The band at the side, raising it off the head amd! giving it the necessary smart tilt, I made subject to variation, by meiasis of those sarnie invisible snap hooks. I preferred a bow of velvet ribbon for trimming, but sometimes (replaced it with a single large rose, a loose knot of turquoise panne or a clump of grey-green foliage. ■" Now, girls, oall me coammeroral if you ■vrll, but all this cost ,less than, Idol 50 certs. Am I mat economical? And I still have 3dol 50 cents, and late in the summer I will reward myself with another hat of some sort. This will probably -be ail white, with colour vacations, to suit my whim amid frock.''