HINTS ON MOUNTING CROCHET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17862, 2 June 1926, Page 11

HINTS ON MOUNTING CROCHET.

The effect of really beautiful crochet is often Spoiled in the making up. First of all it should be washed in hot? soapy water, then plunged into cold. If the crochet is badly soiled, it may be stewed for several hours in a lather of pure soap. V hen the crochet is almost dry’ it should be pressed on the wrong side with a hot iron, and carefully stretched into shape. It is best to dry a square or triangle in the following way: Draw out the correct shape with a ruler on a clean board. Then, when the crochet is quite wet, pin the edges to the outlines, inserting pins all along not less than *-in. apart. Leave until quite dry’, then press with a hot iron and damp cloth. The diagonal edge of a triangle is sometimes too full, and when this is the case a gathering thread should be run through it and drawn up to the correct size. Also one straight edge of a triangle is often a little looser than the other, and if * C; o, it should be treated in the way I have described ior the diagonal side.

DYEING DON’TS

Don’t trv to improve on the instructions given with each particular dye. There’s a reason for each ot the processes directed; if you leave them out or add to them, or turn them the other way before, you re due ioj trouble. , . . , , Don’t dump a garment into a tub of dye without first testing a. piece of the material (or material as nearly like it as possible in see how it takes the colour. . Don’t trv to turn navy into rose-pink or red into vellow. In the latter case you may get a becoming orange shade,

but mixtures don’t always work. A blue dye applied to red or pink, for in stance, mav produce a very* undesirable purple. Don't try* to get a deeper shade by’ doubling the amount of dye. It’s better to dip twice. Don't hang vour dyed frock in bright sunlight to dry. Don't attempt to dye patterned materials. If you want to freshen up such frocks, try dyeing some plain material to match one of the shades in the pattern, and use this as a trimming. Don’tdeave the article soaking in the dy r e, and don’t forget that it must be kept moving all the time it's in the liquid. Don't use too small a bowl or too little dy r e. You must be able to souse the garment thoroughly. Don't attempt big things or thick materials, such as wrap coats, cloth coats and skirts and so on. Let a professional dyer do these for you. Don’t forget that all garments must be- perfectly clean before you start dyeing them.

NEW TEA COSIES

NOTES AND NOTIONS OF THE DAY. No matter what the season of the year, tea cosies are always useful, and nowadays they are so attractive that everyone wants an excuse for introducing one on their tea-tray. Cosies made from vividly coloured silk are especially popular, and their trimmings can be just as elaborate as you please. For instance, cosies made of plain taffetas or satin can be finished with shirred bands of bright tissue or woven brocade, or their seams may be outlined with gay galon embroidery. Groups of squat satin fruit always look well as an adornment, and it is also fashionable to trim your cosy with a

more natural petalled flower, backed with soft green leaves. Another pretty design for a tea cosy is to copy the idea of the lady whose voluminous skirts provide a covering for the telephone. In this case, her skirts are not quite so full, and are made up over a frame which is itself placed over a plain warm cosy made from cotton wadding covered with sateen or some such material. You can buy charming little china ladies at a very reasonable price, and the making of the dress itself is a most fascinating task. The bodice, of course, can only be plain, for it is too small to be elaborate, unless you like to add a miniature berthe collar of lace, but the skirt is quite a different matter. It can be made entirely of frills, if you want, it to resemble an early Victorian crinoline, or if you prefer to go back still farther in history’, choose an eighteenth-century dress, and make the skirt of brocade or satin, opening up in front over an underskirt of georgette or ninon, trimmed elaborately with ruffles of lace or ruchings of the material. Now that' embroidery has come into fashion again, it has been used very successfully on some of the newest tea cosies. A cover of some silk material can be worked in Broderie Anglaise with a thread of another colour, and this shade can also be tised for the utilitarian cover of the cosy itself, so that it shows through the embroidery with very good effect. Of course, for specially important occasions the embroidery will strike a more luxuriotis note if worked in gold or silver spun thread. This is quite as easy as silk to work with, and the result is well worth the extra outlay.