CRETONNE EMBROIDERY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19959, 17 November 1934, Page 11

CRETONNE EMBROIDERY

“I used to love doing embroidery; but I haven’t the eyes—nor the hands—for it now!” How often does one hear that lament from elderly women. There is, however one type of fancy work which requires neither keen sight nor supple fiingers, and it is far more effective than many finer, and more costly, kinds of work. That is the cretonne embroidery. The first requisite is cretonne. Remnants are often useful of a type boldly patterned with flowers, fruit and birds. This kind of cretonne is often quite cheap, and it does not matter if the colouring is crude, provided that background is some neutral shade. Embroidery silks must be procured, and there is no necessity to stick to the colours in the cretonne. Only the simplest stitches are needed. Some of the flowers, for instance, may be filled in. others outlined. French knots are effective for such things as the stamens of flowers and for the eyes of gaily - hued birds. One of the most successful specimens of this cretonne embroidery that I have yet seen is a fire-screen, the work of a woman in her seventies, states a writer in an exchange. This, mounted on a mahogany frame, and covered with glass, has won the admiration of experts, and is an adornment to the worker’s very pleasant drawing-room, harmonising well with her choice old furniture. Other arUcles she has made include cushion covers and book covers. GOLDFISH The decorativeness of goldfish has grown into the national consciousness in proportion as aquariums, lily-ponds, and swimming-pools are tending towards an aquatic # world, states the “Manchester Guardian.” It is not enough now merely to have a goldfish in a bowl. The goldfish with glass, coral, and seaweed must be of special kind, and the pond in the garden, even if only made of concrete, must be a maze of gold and red and black of various sizes. Goldfish, where they will flourish, are even more ornamental than flowers, and they have the advantage of being natural to the water in which they have their being. It is however, not as easy as all that to maintain them. Handfuls of ants’ eggs or a sprinkling of vermicelli do not suffice. Goldfish have many enemies, beginning with themselves, and it is dangerous putting temptation in their way to encourage great differences of size. There are the foreign enemies, too. Herons have a remarkable knack of discovering the whereabouts of a goldfish pond, and where there is a herony there had better not be goldfish—indeed, there will not be any for long. Some gardens, even in the suburbs, found that goldfish induce the kingfisher. They rejoiced in the flash of blue, murmured statistics on the increase of kingfishers in the country, and the next morning found that there were vacancies in the pond which before had contained goldfish. Kingfishers are well worth sacrifices, but if goldfish are wanted kingfishers must be kept away. On the whole, the goldfish shines as an indoor decoration, and it is not necessary for its beauty to provide it with a midnight sun. Colour and the movement together make of it one of the moat charming features of a room, and as affections may be retained at little cost.