Fashions and Furbelows

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17350, 24 July 1924, Page 9

Fashions and Furbelows

Notes b'p Special Contributors

WHEN SEWING FRENCH SEAMS. The French seam, that is .e«i first on the right side and then on the wrong, is much used for dresses, jumpers, etc. The first line of stitching should be as near the raw edges as possible, otherwise the completed seam will be wider than it should be French, seam drags most obviously unWhere both edges of the material are lorn ed by a selvedge the .latter may often he retained and the seam made by neat oversewing. This is particularly the case with longcloth. muslins, cambrics, etc. TO COLOUR PINK HYDRANGEAS BLUE. Alany florists stock a preparation which will gradually turn the pink blooms of hydrangeas blue, but it is possible to make this change by dissolving a teaspoonful of powdered alum in a gallon of water and applying the liquid to the base of the plants twice a week, as soon as the first buds show. Water with clear water when the flower, have fully expanded, and bear in mind that hydrangeas are very thirsty plants, and manv do not flower as they should because tl«oy are too dry at the roots. “ CAGEY ” WOMEN. “I don’t think I should care to join the bridge club,” said I with, possibly. the slightest suspicion of super eilliousness. “It seems to be a rather suburban affair. I’m afraid it would not interest me.” “Now don’t you be ‘cagey’.” said the American in cur midst. ‘ : I guess

there are as good women in tho suburbs as out ox tiiem, and may be you will be mighty glad you joined before a couple ol months have passed.” “And wliat may ‘cagey' mean,” I inquired. • it means to put a cage round ourself. Plenty of women do that, you know. They just wire themselves in so that they can’t get out, and no one ' can get in to them either. Anti that cage just grows and grows—tighter and tighter and closer and closer —and in the end they can’t move a limb without comfort. Alany cagey folk .wish they hadn’t fixed those wires round ’em, but tliey’i-e difficult to unfix once you get ’em up.” This little talk gave me to think. Even the least conventional of us do build our little cages sometime or other. We have a sort- of innate conviction that some of the salt of the earth must have been sprinkled round our cradle on the day of our birth, and we forget that human beings, ; whether they dwell in the heart of the town or in its more remote environs, are of just the same flesh and blood. The cagey folk always imagine that they are depriving someone else of desirable company when thev cut themselves off. As a matter of stem fact, thev themselves are the sufferers. Birds inside cages gradually lose the free use of their wings, and. when they long to soar, thev discover that they can’t keep up with the uncaged youngsters. So they have to return to thencages. FAITH FOSTER. BUTTONHOLES ARE FASHIONABLE. The return of the tailor-made has brought about the revival of the buttonhole. Each suit must have its appropriate buttonhole of artificial flowers. The gardenia, with two glossy green leaves, is most popular. There is something undeniably chic about the little splash of white which lifts the simple tailleui* to the level of the ultrasmart. Posies of lily-of-the-vallev also create a charming effect on a black suit, worn with a white vest-slip. Camellias of the palest pink shade look lovely against a suit of cinnamonbrown or a coat of smooth checked surface. But, on the whole Fashion does not favour the coloured buttonhole, though she likes small clusters of tiny variegated blooms. arranged like a miniature Victorian bouquet. If the buttonhole matches a similar caster in the hat. so much the better!