SHABBY CARPETS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 227, 14 December 1927, Page 7

SHABBY CARPETS

HOW TO RENOVATE Everyone) knows how stair carpets wear on the tread. Try darning the thin places carefully, and then colour them to match the design with inks. This method can be amazingly successful, and the carpet takes on a new lease of life. The same method can be used for shabby bits on the floor carpet. Where the whole surface J looks drab, and yet. the carpet is not j literally threadbare, the best results can be obtained by rubbing in a dye. Mix the dye just twice as strong as the directions say, tie a wad of linen over the end of a stick, and with this rub the dye evenly and regularly into the carpet or rug. lie sure that it dries thoroughly before anyone is allowed to walk on it. An old Brussels carpet, if not in holes, can be transformed into a very good-wearing linoleum. It should be well beaten to get rid of the dust, and then laid down upon the floor that it is to cover the wrong side uppermost. Fasten and stretch carefully, or else the carpet will wrinkle during the process. Wash it well, using a scrubbing brush and plenty of soap, and wipe as dry as possible. Allow it to dry. Then make a good boiled flour paste, which should not be too thick. Apply this to the carpet with a whitewash brush, taking care that the whole of the carpet is coated with the paste. If the coat of paste docs not seem , to be perfect apply another as ! soon as the first is dry. When the paste is dry, select a house paint of the colour required. Use | a fairly large brush, and apply the paint evenly to the whole surface of the carpet and leave it to dry. The coat of paint may be repeated if necessary, but generally one coat is sufficient. Next apply a clear, colourless a ar ~ nish, going over the whole surface of the carpet very thinly and carefully, but do not work the varnish with the brush, or els© it will become full of tiny bubbles, and thus spoil the look of the whole. This imitation linoleum can be cleaned quite easily by being rubbed over with a damp cloth, or it can he polished with a little good floor polish. It will wear almost for ever, as when the paint shows signs of wearing the whole can be repainted and look quite good again. _____

Some gay cushions for garden or punt are now made of coarse curtain net darned with gaudy wools. The stitch is a simple running darn, one way only r , in large stitches, and the design, as simple as possible, is worked on a greater part of the cushion surface, which is mounted over some gay silk or cotton, which shows through the part left unembroidered. Fine raffia cloth, with appliques of some vivid-hued linen sewn on with the raffia, is a»» Ofective and hardwearing. The t thing is to get it to look gay, * gardens are not always full of flowers, and on the river the sun sometimes fails to shine, and the cushions must make up for both discrepancies.