NEW LEASE OF LIFE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20932, 11 January 1938, Page 8

NEW LEASE OF LIFE

DOWN AT HEELS SLIPPERS A sad thing about the soft sort of heelless bedroom slippers is the rapidity with which the back part of the upper becomes downtrodden, useless, and unsightly, as well as uncomfortable. The rest of the slipper remains good but many a pair is discarded because of this fault, which develops so early, be they of leather, felt, or other stuff, and no matter how expensive they may have been to start with, states a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.” When the heel part begins to get seriously creased, and even after the damage has been done for some time, the shape of slippers can be restored and the life prolonged by the following simple device. Procure or make a pair of silk elastic garters of a suitable colour for the slippers and stitch one edge of each garter to the top edge of the back of each slipper heel, making the join run for rather less than an inch. The object is merely to secure the garter firmly to the heel part. The foot is then thrust first through the garter, and when the slipper is on this forms a strap round the ankle to keep all in place and in shape. So furnished, a slipper is put on r.s easily and quickly, with the aid of the finger and thumb, as it would be without the strap. True, the feet cannot be thrust in without the help from the hand, but neither can they into any kind of slipper save the mule, which is not without its own disadvantage, especially if it has to be worn going up and down stairs.

Mules too can have garters attached to them in a similar way, but this robs them of their special character, whereas with other soft slippers the strap looks well. The garter can be decorated with an ornament which comes at the front of the ankle, as with a strapped sandal. There ’. no constriction on the bare skin and neither button nor buckle to fumble with, while the shoe is as easily kicked off at will as if it were strapless. A further advantage is that one can hang them up by their elastics, when not in use, upon a wardrobe peg to keep them from the dusty floor. f