Fashion and Things Feminine.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

Fashion and Things Feminine.

By IDA MELLER

A BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN COAT AMJ HA 1. it is now that both the woman with means and the woman who must meds exercise the strictest economy 111 order to keep up a well-dressed appearance : are considering the question of the autumn wardrobe and deciding on what to wear during the coming months, and the moment is propitious therefore, for looking around and studying the various styles in tailor-mades and liou.sodresses that are likely to last.

For house wear, the one-piece frock prevails, varied by blouses and sot% lianging skirts, gathered at the waist and very simple-'ook'.ng. It is good news to know that -impli city rules 111 tailor-mades as w-11 as in house-dresses. Tailored skirts, though wide, are neat and unobtrusive, and the trimming reli.-d on chiefly by tailors is nothing more elaborate than silk Lruid.

Boiled costume-coats are still adhered to, but the newest models have belts that button on to the side seams, leaving tho back plain. This is a good idea, and is a fashion that is introduce.! into some delightful coat-drosses, showing bodice fronts, belted at tho waist and sac-backs trimmed at the hem with wide silk braid. The skirts hang quite s'mply and full like pelisse skirts, and. like the pelisse, again, the coat-dress is made all in one. or rather, 1 oat-bodice and full skirt are joined at the waist, and the garment, when completed. is. therefore, of the one-piece kind and easily slipped on. It is provided with button and button-hole fastenings.

Turning from coat-dresses to wrapcoats. n long, *-ma t coat is, of course, one of the most useful tilings for the autumn wardrobe, :i<k! is not only good from ;i fashion:;h ! e joint of view but also from an economical one, for it enables a woman to wear a dress that 's no longer quite fresh or modish luit yet is too good to discard. An unusually smart coat with raglan si,-eves is illustrated, and would develoj) well in Mack and white checked cloth, with stitched Kelt and facings to the collar, cuffs and rovers of black c'otli, or in green and' blue mixed plaid, v itii belt and facings in cloth of either colour. A particularly attractive feature of the coat is the belted front combined with a graceful sac back. The smart illustration shows an alternative 'aspect of the coat, with fronts carried over the chest. Every woman who makes her own clothes shou'd possess a pattern of this beautiful coat.

Note, too. the eliic style of the hat illustrated, which is of black velvet with coloured straw brim and two feathers in front.

Even tlie most critical tan feared v

a i v t tlie now Hi 111. lie i%, for jt is strictly reasonable in general style, moderate ui size, ivnd l made Dt all kinds of pretty silks and straws, and of that most becoming of fabrics, black velvet, a.s well as of felt, ol cour.-.i!. Of ali shapes, tlie small sailor is like, ly to be tlie most popular, and this in I>l;\ck tafietas, with coloured llower.i wandering round the crown, would be a most excellent choice for the woman on the look out for a really smart hat that would accommodate itself to any costume.

Another fashion that i-. certain to attract numbers of yirls is the velvet tam-o'-shanter, which is a particularly voi stylo. Hats of all kinds, wliethci quite small or moderate sized, wi'l, as Usual lie worn eriished well down on to ll\> forehead.

A lIOMIvMADK BOLKRO DUI'.SS. Tucked and gathered skirts and s!ceve!i ss boleros. are pretty fash .on < lor home dresses that may lie worn out id mioj-s. and tha . adapt themselves to Various ("u-ensioii-. 'lll.' bolero ores.., illiistraied. for instance. could lie worn with a ehanue ol hlouvtles to su't morning or afternoon wear. It would look Weil made up in any soft material. M,rh a- ca«d:inor«, tin..' cloth, or (■ol ielllle. Thro," graduated tucks appear above tlie hem'of the skirt, the all-romul measurement of which is about yards. The waist is raised, and the skirt hanjis from a foundation jrird!' o|' lielt;iilt, two or tlitw inches decn. It i- ;i pattern for voille us well as cloth material-. The blonsi tie worn lie ot wafer-spot muslin. of lace, net. or washing silk. The I*l per ]nt'.er:i of the skirt and holero are in four parts, namely, half the '-kirt full.' oh- front ot lmWo. Tit:lf the hack, and half the lielt. The d'agrani ind'eates these vnr-

Copyright.

ions pie-cos !aid on -JJ or -j varus of J(>1 s -iii(* 11 materia! touted in halt, length. Wise, ihe straight edges oi hack oi bolero and holt must ho iaid to tno iold; the front inu-t be out out in duplicate. Jhe bolero should be seamed and lined with soft siik, and the fronts gathered at the waist. The belt should also be lined, and the lower edge ot the bolero must be stitched between bolt and lining. Ihe skirt is professedly a one-piere model, with a seam up the back; but

few materials are wide enough to cut it without piecing, there must be seams at the sides, and these should be us inconspicuous as possible. The diagram indicates the skirt pattern laid on folded materia', with the front laid to the fold, in order to avoid a seam up the front. A space is marked out for the skirt-piece that must le seamed on. This piece mint be cut jn duplicate, of course.

The back scam should be loft open from the waist to placket-depth; the placket must be faced and provided with snap-fasteners, and at the bottom of tlie skirt a hem, 3j inches deep, should lie allowed for. Above tlit.s, three tucks must be made, and to make them, creasp the material along the crossline of dots (see diagram). It the material is wiry and will not ho'd tlie crease, run a coloured hasting thread llong the eross-lijie. From this ereas■d or basted edge, measure back four nclies with a tape, and baste a straight ine thereabouts. Along this line tlie rorker must stitch for the lowest tuck. •io second tuck must be basted and stitched three incites back from the first, and the upper tuck two inches hack.

When the tlicks are made, the next ep is to a3.iu.st the fulness at the top f the skirt to fit the foundation gir'e, which must he cut to fit a lu.iih waistline. This fullness may he disposed in small, backward turning pleats, or the skirt may he gathered a'ong the whole top, more fullness being retained at the sides and hack than in front. Two rows of shirring will hold the fullness more evenly than one row. Turn under the top edge of skirt and stitch t in the umuil way to the foundation girdle. Th.' bolero looks very well if a piping ho added everywhere, and it is worth the extra trouble of giving this litt'e touch. The belt, it will be observed, is finished with three small buttons. These may be purely ornamental, the belt fastening with map studs, or the buttons may be the actual fasteners, and serve a really useful a« well as ornamental purpose. Whether the skirt requires 4J or "> yards of material, depends on the length preferred and depth of tucks. - ——• -nm ~ r, ssa