WOMAN'S PAGE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXII, Issue 31, 18 February 1935, Page 4

WOMAN'S PAGE.

LONDON FASHION NOTES. EYE OF CHRISTMAS. SOME SEASONABLE GIFTS. LONDON, December 14. Sometimes I wonder why the average English woman is so conservative. It certainly has nothing to do with climate, for in England the weather spring's more surprises than life itself. Already T have had a “Happy Christmas” greeting-, the shops arc crowded with people searching for Christmas gifts, school children are home for the Christmas holidays, and yet the weather for the last few days has been completely like spring. “Mild, sunny, and occasional showers” is the weather report—and surely this sounds like A”ril. Where are the robins . ad snow ui the oldfashioned Christmas card? To the modern child they must almost be as legendary as Father Christmas himself. Well, Christmas is an industry as well as a festival, and on the side of industry I toured the shops watching people choose their gifts. it is a good sign when one finds that “luxuries” are figuring in the list: it points to revival. So many years of practical gifts have made everyone long- to go out and buy coveted extravagances, and that is the trend this year. The “flap jack” powder vanity box which had been made in every size and material, now has the mirror illuminated with a tiny electric light—useful to facilitate complexion repairs in a darkened cinema..

Mirror glass is one of the season’s novelties. It is made into cigarette cases, cigarette boxes, and every type of dress ornament . and jewellery. Bracelets of square pieces of mirror glass remind one of the jet bracelets that used to be threaded on elastic. Twin clips of mirror glass are sold with bracelet and dress buckle to match as a set. The jewelled clip is usually sold in matching pairs, which are convertible into one large brooch. “Pearls” have become very fashionable and marvellously like the real thing-. One store is offering imitation pearls at 5s a string, and these are displayed beside necklaces costingfour and five guineas, and it is difficult to tell the difference. Those whose wrist watches invariably refuse to function will be delighted with the new handbag- watches, in black or white or a color, with a small face and deep surround of polished or enamelled wood.

The fashion for hair ornaments has brought a revival of the jewelled comb. These are usually quite tiny, so as to fix easilj’ into shingled heads, and mounted with exquisite designs in brilliants —a star, small spray of flowers, crescent and arrow, or a wreath of tiny jewel flowers. The long chiffon scarf is being carried with evening dresses this season, and this is one of the attractive presents in delicate shades of pink and blue and yellow. One designer shows a colored chiffon scarf with every picture dress, draped over the forearms and trailing down below the waist at the back. Large chiffon handkerchiefs with an embroidered initial in black for those whose dresses do not call for a scarf, and these are selling by the hundreds.

Perfume sprays made in delicate colored cut glass, with silken tassels attached to the bulb, are shown in every size from huge ones for the bathroom down to tiny sprays for the handbag. The handbag department in every store is crowded, and never in the history of woman did she have such a profusion to choose from, for a new style seems to appear every week. The most popular leather this year is calf. It certainly is hard wearing and looks well in all colors. The bright surface gives it a dressy look that is more attractive than the aggressive shine of patent leather. r l here are shoes and belts made to match many bags in calf and suede. The initial finds a fresh place in the newest bag, being used on the edge of tlie frame as a fastener. Artificial flower sprays for evening wear are a lovely extravagance of the moment that look exquisite packed in gold and silver boxes. Two huge roses—one white and one pink—with velvet leaves on a pale pink crene dress are dainty and distinctive. A ruffle of enormous open silk n white or pink that can be fastened round the decolletage of a gown or added to the collar of an r * veiling wrap, is a fashionable acces- ' I! '.v t!.mt will be a welcome gift. Flower necklets that' fasten at the back with narrow ribbons or gold thread-, with a wristlet made of the flowers, are dainty ornaments 1‘"" « young girl’s first dance. Women still refuse to* wear more than a tiny floral ornament on a hat, , b:;t have welcomed every other flower fashion with enthusiasm. But spring is really just round the comer that leads into these quiet streets where dress designers are showing 1035 styles to important hade buyers. They will not appear in the shops for nearly three months, hut f have just seen two collections and so next week T will tell you the trend for next year. THE SILVER JUBILEE. Preparations are already afoot for the King’s Silver Jubilee, states an exchange. Although the date is still many months ahead, officials at Buckingham Palace and at the different Government Departments realise how essential it is to take time by the forelock. Advantage is being taken of the absence of the Court to get rooms redecorated at Buckingham

1 JAisd 1 CARMEL LEROY IWuteA

Palace for the accommodation of State guests. Moreover, provisional i eservations of suites are being made at seme of the leading hotels, for it is recognised that advance bookings are likely to be extremely heavy. These* are only a few of the preliminary steps that are being taken, and events will move much more rapidly at the end of the holiday season when people come back from the moors and from the holiday resorts. In the meantime, a provisional list of guests is being drawn up for submission to ihe King when he returns from Balmoral. HEIRLOOMS OF TO-MORROW. Museums in future centuries will covet the beautiful carpets and rugs being made at home by modern men and women, as eagerly as the carpets made by Elizabethan chatelaines are sought by collectors to-day, states “Daily Telegraph.” Instead of Queen Elizabeth’s time has there been such a wave of carpet-making in the home. Then carpets were a novelty from the East, not to be trampled on, but to be used to cover tables and cupboards. For canvas the Tudor ladies took the cheese and dish cloths woven by their maids. That carpets are taking the place of petit point as a winter hobby is evident from the Exhibition of Twentieth Century Needlework at the Leicester Galleries. MODERN TAPESTRIES. Tapestries for the nurseries of the future are being made in a school in England, in animal designs in tiie mid-Victorian atmosphere of Kensington Gore, in startlingly bright colors, as a breakaway from the traditionally faded hues of gros point and petit point work, states' the “Daly Telegraph.” Instead of copying designs from old pieces the students have each to create their own version of the bloom in stiff paper, showing how many “planes” it has. Sub-debutante pupils of Lady Smith-Dorrien. the principal of the school, who wish to introduce flowers into their embroidery have first to make a futuristic picture in colors on felt. THINGS WORTH KNOWING. USE ELASTIC. A piece of elastic, run through the top to washing-bags, shoe-bags, etc., is better than the old-fashioned tape drawstrings. Only one piece of elastic is necessary; just run it through two buttonholed slots on either side of the seam, and either stitch or knot the elastic ends together to make a lcop to hang it up by.. CLEAN BRIGHT-COLORED . CLOTH. Take one ounce of flour and two ounces of Fullers’ earth, make them hot in the oven, and mb them into the material with a clean flannel. This is a dry-cleaning process. After a time brush the cloth and shake out the powder. A BOTTLE MOP. To make a mop for cleaning nar-row-necked, wide-based bottles, split a short piece of cane and insert a . thick piece of sponge between the i portions. Bind the ends of the cane ! lightly with thin string, and the mop j is ready tor use. To clean the mop, I remove the sponge and soak it in hot j soapy water. ! WHEN VELVET IS SPOTTED. Rain spots are easily removed from velvet by half-filling a kettle of water, bringing it to boiling point, and holding the marked velvet in the steam. Do this for a minute or two, shaking the velvet all the time. Remove the material from the steam, shake till dry, then brush lightly in the direction of the pile. REMOVING A GLASS STOPPER, A glass stopper can generally be removed, when it.has become set, by wrapping a cloth wrung out in hot water round the neck of the bottle. Hold it there for a few moments and Ihe stopper will then, in most eases, come out. The water must not be quite boiling, or it may crack the glass. Should the stopper still be obstinate, let a drop of paraffin or petrol drop from a feather on to it, when it will creep between the two surfaces and facilitate removal. TRY SOME OF THESE. Cheese Custard.—Take one pint of milk, two eggs, half teaspoonful mus.tard, three tablespoonfuls grated cheese, cayenne pepper, and salt. Beat liie eggs, add seasoning, heat the milk, and pour over it. Add the cheese, pour into a greased dish, sprinkle a little more cheese over the lop, and hake in a slow oven for about half an hour. (It may cook during dinner, as it should be eaten hot). Salad Creole.—Salad creole has lettuce, tomato, and banana as its main ingredients. Line a flat bowl with crisp lettuce leaves, washed and dried and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Then put a row of skinned tomatoes cut into pieces about an eighth of mi inch thick. Repeat until the bowl is full, then sprinkle with salt and pepper and very finely-chop-ped onion, and dress with a. good cream dressing. Slices of apple added to this salad provide a nice change. Raisin Ginger Bread. —Take half a cup of sugar, half a cup of butter, hall a cup of treacle, half a cup of sour milk, four eggs, half a cup of seeded raisins, one dessertspoonful of ground ginger, half a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a dessertspoonful of

carbonate of soda (dissolved in hot water), Jib. flour, or enough to make a pood batter. Cream the butter and sugar, add! the treacle and spices, and beat the egg yolks and whites separately. Add the yolks and milk M the mixture and stir in the floor and whites alternately, then the sodawater and raisins. Bake in a wellgreased tin for 40 minutes. Sultana Cake. —Take lib. of butter, Mb. brown or castor sugar, fib. flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, three egg’s, one gill milk, Mb. sultanas, 2oz. almonds, 2oz. peel. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, well beaten, and the flour, sifted with the baking powder and the prepared fruit. Add the milk alternately with the flour. Line a caketin with two thicknesses of brown paper, and bake in a hot oven for a quarter of an hour, decreasing the heat and then cooking for another lj hours. This is a. good foundation mixture for many cakes. Dates, figs, rai- ; ins, cherries, walnuts, or caraway seeds may he substituted for sultanas. A double quantity of the mixture may be made, and, if cooked in a big, flat dish, and kept in an airtight tin, will keep fresh for weeks. It may be cut into sections as desired.