GIFT IDEAS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3272, 4 June 1943, Page 2

GIFT IDEAS

ALL VERY EASY TO MAKE

A FEW GOOD SUGGESTIONS

MATS FROM LACQUERED WASTE

Each of the following suggestions for gifts is inexpensive in requirements and easy to make. They comprise two coat adornments,. a lavender basket and a needle-and-thimble case.

Blackberry Spray.—This calls for picture wire, small beads in green, red and black, a few white, and three larger yellow ones (an old lampshade fringe may provide them), two artificial autumn-tinted leaves, and a scrap of brown crepe paper. Take about 9in. of wire for flowers and thread as many white beads as will go round the yellow bead. Twist wires together twice, thread yellow bead on the longer end of wire and take it across the loop of beads, bringing the wire under and twisting all together several times.

Make two more flowers and twist remaining wire to form main stem, to which must be attached the berries, fashioned by taking a 6in. length of wire, threading five beads lin. from end, and twisting wire twice to form a small group.

Thread forty or more beads, according to size of beads, twist round and round the small group, keeping beads close together on- wire. Twist remainder of wire together, make three green, four red and the remainder black, adding a few more black beads to make them a little larger. Cover all stems with brown paper, secure with a speck of gum, group all together, place green berries next flowers, then red, black at the bottom, add leaves, and bind all stems with brown paper. Basket of Lilies.—Most craft workers have scraps of felt, and so can make this coat adornment at no cost and in whatever size is required. My basket is 2Jin. wide and 2in deep, made of brown felt. Two pieces are needed, and the handle is three strips plaited. The lilies are lemon, with deeper yellow centres. The pattern is not unlike the spade pip on a playing card, only a little longer. The best plan is to cut a pattern in paper and try until the satisfactory shape and size is obtained.

Stitch centres in at the base and fold petals round, securing with a few neat stitches. Buds are scraps tapered at the ends, then twisted and secured to a piece of wire and covered with paper. Leaves are simply a long shape in a dull green. •Stitch basket shapes together, leaving the top open, insert handle and flowers in basket top and stitch. Fasten a safety-pin in the back. .Pink lilies in a black or blue basket are also attractive, so are white in green or black.

Lillipilli Lavender Basket.—ln this basket the lillipillis were made from scraps of pink silk filled with cotton wool and a few grains of lavender, with a brown stitch in each centre.

These, with a few artificial leaves, are attached to a straw basket fashioned from the top of a hat crown and turned wrong side out to avoid the faded part. The handles were two pieces stitched together, also reverse. sides out.

To make, fold the crown in half, press under a damp cloth, fill with lavender and top sew. Insert handles, arrange berries and leaves, and finish off with a ribbon bow to tone. Mats From Lacquered Waste.-— Pretty li-tle table mats can be made from odd pieces of thick cardboard, three-ply, masonite or any similar material.

Cut to the required size and shape with a fretsaw, and sandpaper the edges. Cut coloured pictures of fish, birds, flowers or animals from old magazines or catalogues and gum them to he cen re of the mats. Place

under pressure to prevent wrinkling. When quite dry give both mat and picture a coat of clear lacquer or varnish.

Cotton-Scrap Cushion Cover. — Having some large plain and floral scraps of cotton material left over from frocks, I cut them into squares, oblongs and triangles, which I joined together to form one large square 18in. by 18in. This I lined with a piece of unbleached calico, and with half a yard of plain blue Fortuna cloth similarly lined for a back I had a gay cushion cover.

The cushion I made from a bleached flour-bag, cut to the required size, and stuffed with all the scraps too small to be otherwise utilised snipped into tiny pieces.

Thus foi' a small cost and a couple of hours work I had a gay and serviceable cushion for the hammock or deck-chair.