EVERYDAY ECONOMIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 5, 28 March 1927, Page 5

EVERYDAY ECONOMIES

“THE WITS-END CLUB” A new novel may be selected by the winner each week as a prise for the most original household hint or recipe that has been tested and found to sen time, labour or money. Many foil might be glad to have the benefit of your experience, so send in your suggestions, addressed to The Homecrafts Editor, Women’s Page, THE SUN, Auckland. A NOVEL DADO A friend of mine is making a most delightful and inexpensive dado in her nursery. First she bought some strips of pale tinted paper and pasted them round the walls, reaching about three feet high from the ground. This is not hard to do as the joins do not matter a bit. It must be left to dry, and care should be taken that the paste is even in order to obtain a smooth effect. Then she bought any amount of strips of brightly coloured paper, reds and blues and greens and yellows . . . every possible vivid shade.

Out of these, with huge cutting-out scissors, she cut all sorts of objects—birds and cows and sunflowers and cats and little boys and girls. These she made all about two feet high and stuck them on. She drew her outlines first in pencil and then cut carefully around. If you cannot draw such things well enough yourself, you probably know someone who will do them for you, but it is surprisingly easy, if you choose simple things, to cut out a good silhouette. —A.C., Epsom. INSTEAD OF PAPER Most people line the drawers in th-eir dressing chests with paper, but a daintier and more original method is to use pieces of linen or casement cloth cut to fit, and either hemstitched or scalloped, as fancy dictates. These make a far more fitting resting-place for your pretty undies and other things. Made in white or in a pastel tint they are delightful, and an intriguing addition is an embroidered monogram in one corner. A set of these would make a. charming present for a bride, only be sure and secure the necessary measurements before you commence operations. K.T.8.. Remuera. WHERE IS THAT COTTON ? It is so fatally easy for the reel you are using to get hidden under the piles of mending and scraps of material that encumber a busy woman’s sewing table. An excellent idea is to attach a thin curtain rod with brackets to the under edge* of the sewing table and keep your reels of cotton on it. They are always handy, and are far less likely to be “borrowed” by members of the family with marauding tendencies. Z. 8., Mangere. THE CARD TABLE The ordinary handy, inexpensive tvpe of card table, with wooden edges holding the baize top in position, can be greatly improved by removing the wooden rims and baize top and covering the wood underneath with layers of cotton wool to the thickness of one I inch, being careful to have no lumps ■ or ridges. Replace the baize, but on no account ’et it drop until you are certain it is in the right position, or,

in adjusting it, the wool underneath will be pulled out of place. Screw the wooden sides back into position and you will have a table with a slightly raised top, on which even an inferior or old card can be picked up with ease. —C.B. WHEN THE DRESSER DRAWER JAMS Every now and then one of our domestic utensils plays us a trick, and acts as a wedge, preventing us from

opening a drawer more than a few inches. It may be only a refractory cake-tin or some slippery little mould, but we jog and rattle the drawer in vain. A good way to deal with the obstruction is to first nearly close the drawer and then insert a very thin-bladed knife; very often, with a little ingenuity, one can hold down the offending obstacle inside, the knife preventing it from rising as the drawer passes it. The drawer itself can then be fully pulled out and its contents more suitably arranged. —M.M. CLEANING WHITE FUR OR LAMBSWOOL White furs are dainty possessions, but no matter how careful one is they soon lose their spotlessness. However, I have discovered a very good way to renew their complexions without injury to their constitutions. Place a large flat pan, filled with new bran, in the oven and heat it very slowly. It must not burn or brown, and so will need constant stirring. When it is hot, but not too liot •to allow the hands to touch it, pour it all over the article to be cleaned, which should be laid flatly upon a large clean towel. Then rub the bran thoroughly into the fur with the hands. Relays of bran must be used until the article looks clean; shake it free or wipe it with a clean white cloth, and brush out every particle of bran with a perfectly clean hat brush. The points to be remembered are: the bran must be hot; there must be plenty of it; the brush and cloths used must be spotless, and you must persevere until the fur or lambswool is quite clean again. —-D.B.A. “STUCK ON” APPLIQUES It is a bother to baste a whole flower-garden of applique pieces in place, and if you merely pin them you are sure to pull them askew as you sew—but here is a way to make the so-fashionable patches “stay put” as with a charm. Cut out all your pieces, smear the back of each with warm, boiled starch in which a little white soap has been dissolved, and pat smoothly in place on the material. When all are placed cover with a dry cloth and press with a warm iron. Remove the cloth gently and then press the patches until they are perfectly dry. They will now seem actually a part of the material, and can be buttonholed, outlined or chainstitched as your pattern determines. The starch will wash out completely at the first tubbing, leaving the material soft and wrinkleless. —“Suzette.” STOCKING SAVERS Have a crochet-hook handy when darning stockings; then if you have a very big hole, you can crochet in a patch instead of darning. It is much quicker and a stocking mended in this way is perfectly comfortable. When mending a ladder in a silk stocking you should turn the stocking inside out and stitch all down the ladder with the sewing machine. Then cut off the ragged edges, and you will have a very neat seam which hardly shows at all. To re-foot a stocking, cut along the seam round the foot, using the part cut off as a pattern; then from the leg of an old stocking cut out the foot for the one you are renewing. Oversew the two edges together (the closer the better), and you will find that the refooted article will wear for quite a long time. —B.JE.P. TEA BLENDING Miss Gertrude Ford is a notable example of what a girl can do when she is determined to make her way in the world. She was born in Toronto, Canada, and, having made herself locally famous with her excellent nutcake, she went to New York with the idea of selling her product to the large hotels. She found competition too keen and had to give up. Then she hit upon the idea of a distinctive blend of tea, which she achieved by mixing a number of varieties. Her blend proved so excellent and had such an unusual flavour that a big demand set in for it very quickly. Now she supplies all the ■ea served in tho most ore hotels in the principal cities of the United States.

"UNSTRUNG” oft "RE-STRUNG.” What Marshall’s Fospherine Will Do. The demands of modern business life take toll of even the strongest man. Irritability and lassitude are the symptoms. followed by a complete physical and nervous breakdown. Alarshall’s Fospherine is the remedy needed. Builds up the nerves, creates rich blood and restores harmony and vigour to the whole system. Acts quickly—steadies your nerves from the first dose. Ask your chemist or store for the six-sided carton of “Alarshall’s”—loo doses for 2s 6d. Or write to proprietors, A. and W. Baxter, of Baxter’s Lung Preserver, Christchurch. 2