Ladies' Column

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 359, 26 March 1903, Page 2

Ladies' Column

fashion and things feminine:, By MISS ADA MELLEE FASHIONABLE COATS. HEBE is a new departure in coa*s > to cover the mat' rial of which tbe rows of fancy braid, the upper part of the { sleeves only escaping the trimming. There is a good deal of charm about these coats, which are semi-fitting sacques, in shape, and are usually made of fleecy material, somewhat after the style of camel-hair or molleton. A white coat, of moileton-like substance, looks exceedingly

smart covered with black waved braid, with a centre-line of black and gold mixod cord, and finished at the neck with one of the fashionable, short, square collars of black astrachan. But for m?re useful wear black or fawn-coloured woolly cloth would be preferable. One of the coats sketched in the accompanying group represents the coat of the moment that I am discussing. It works out admirably in red cloth, braided with black and finished with a collar of astrachan, and in this way the coat could be worn with a skirt to match or with a black skirt. It is double-breasted, and fastens with black buttons and loops, the latter sewn to the edge of the right-hand ooat front. _ A costume of green or dark blue cloth with a coat after the design illustrated would also be smart and serviceable. The other

coat sketched is typical of the fashionable style for covert-coating, or speckled tweed It is semi-fitting, and is finished with machine stitching, otherwise it is .quite plain, and may for this reason be recommended as a capital coat for everyday MATERIALS FOB, BLOUSES. Morning blouses made of the new fancy flannels and delaines are taking upon themselves a very decorative appearance, at the same time being economical and useful. The delaine blouses are rather more f may do duty for afternoon and evening home wear. They are usually made np «f collars and cuffs hemmed with plain silk to match the prevailing colour of the design, and are simply box-pleated down the centre front and set with buttons, the neck being finished, perhaps, with a smartly tied necktie of coloured silk with mitred ends.. The flannel blouse,is much face designed in checks or strips, in which white usually appears. Smarter blouses are carried out in ordinary silk, with hemstitching and either lace insertions or.blaok velvet ribbons by way of relief. Less worn, but none the less charming for this raason, are the blouses of green silk;—either of crisp taffeta cr soft merveilleux—trimmed with ficelle or c f ffee-coloured~lace. Velveteen is, of course, an ideal matersalfor home blouses for the cooler, season, albeit it cannot be recommended for wearing beneath coats, owing to the difficulty of coaxing a cloth, or in fact any material, to slip easily over a velvet surface. i PAINT STAINS ON WINDOWS; It often happens that painters inadvertently splash glass, windows with the paint with which they are painting window sills, and they do not trouble to remove the stains. This falls to the housemaid's lot. She should melt some soda in very hot water, and wash the stains with the s lution, using a soft flannel. The soda-water will entirely remova the paint stains. The glass should afterwards be polished with a chamois leather until it is brilliantly clear. | A STRAPPED COSTUME. The basque is now quite the correct thing for tailcr-madee, and conveniently adapts itself to the material at command I__ •L- _. _lJ_ «'„»•■ .Ull 1.-J.l mere tab at the back or an all-the-way-round affair. The complete costume which is sletehed herewith, ia made with a tab-basque, seen in the small back view, and would look well in a chestnut brown cloth strapped with glace silk to match, or in black, green, or dark blue cloth strapped with black glace ' silk. The design is suggested with a view to showing how a cloth dress may be economically trimmed with silk and how an old silk alip/froin which it would be impossible to cut any sound large pieces, may be turned to account. The belt and basque amp ht be of oloth or silk, as preferred, or the basque mig ft be a double one—a silk tab

falling over a large one of cloth, or viceversa. The straps of silk on the bodice are arranged to simulate a collar, and the way of them is novel and pretty. All the straps on the dress are sewn near the points with tiny, flat buttons, and the bodice fastens with a couple of large round buttons. If the material were plentiful tabs might be continued all round the waist-line; but in this case they should not be entirely of silk, but partly, if not wholly, of cloth, to make it appear that they proceed from the bodice. This would be a useful costume to wear with a fur pflerine or warm cape, and has a pretty smartness and simplicity that are extremely becoming.