Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 870, 14 January 1930, Page 5

Feminine Interests

Do You Stand Correctly?

A Graceful , Easy Carriage is an Adjunct to Beauty DO you ovit give any thought to the correct way of standing ■ Kew women do, even when they observe in other women defects which are the direct results of not standing properly, but it is a matter which is worthy of consideration, says an English writer. The trouble about an incorrect stance—to use a golfing term -is that it is usually a habit cultivated in youth. Girls who have not been trained at school to stand and sit properly find it very difficult to make themselves adopt an upright hut easy posture, and they are surprised to discover that they have been standing badly for years.

By neglect in this respect you throw vour body out of balance, and, when this happens, like a machine that is not properly adjusted, the frame eventually develops slight abnormalities, such aa having one shoulder lower than the other, or one hip higher than its fellow. As a rub* this uneven development is very slight and is usually discovered by the dressmaker, but instances are known in which it has become an actual deformity. There is one advantage about such abnormalities being noticeable. The sufferer immediately takes steps to prevent the condition from going any further and adopts means to correct it; but often it takes years of exercise and care to bring back the proper body balance. A lower shoulder and a higher hip will usually be found to be the outcome of the habit of standing on one foot, for it throws the whole weight of the body to one side. These may appear to be minor faults, but they may have a much more serious effect. The spine may bo thrown out of adjustment, and many cases of curvature of the spine can be traced to the habit of standing on one foot. Whfen you ignore this simple rule of deportment it naturally follows that you cannot walk correctly, since to do so your body should first be correctly poised; and walking is the most healthful as well as the most gentle of exercises. THE CORRECT WAY This is the correct way to stand; The weight of the body should be evenly distributed on the balls of the feet, with the upper part of the body easily well lifted up. The shoulders should bo level, but thrown well back: the hips should be in a lii*e with the shoulders and the abdomen in, but the muscles should not be at all taut. In a word, the balance should be so easy that it is unconscious, and there should be no suggestion of tenseness about your posture.

If you stand correctly your body will assume an unconscious grace; that grace will extend to your walk, and a graceful, easy carriage is a splendid adjunct to beauty. The woman who stands and walks as she should usually breathes without effort, and correct breathing is conducive to health, and, consequently, happiness. If you have become a victim of the bad habit of incorrect standing and have thus acquired a low shoulder, try this exercise to correct R: Stand with the weight of your body upon the foot which is on the same side as the low shoulder. Now lift the ribs on the same side as high as you can. at the same time raising the arm, ancl extend the arm upward with the fist clenched; extend the other arm straight out from the shoulder-line. Stretching upward the arm that is straight, work it backward and outward as much as possible for a few seconds, then relax. Lower the arms and repeat the exercise. Breathe deeply the whole time you are exercising. Begin by doing the exercise twice, and increase until you are doing it ten times daily. If one hip is larger than the other, stand with the weight on the bigger one, place the hand on the hip-bone and push inward strongly; at the same time keep the other arm curved over the head so that the hand holds the ear on the side of the larger hip. Hold this position while you count ten, then relax and repeat. Practise this also with deep breathing, and work up to ten times a day. It should be comforting to remember that the great majority of us are born physically perfect—whether we retain that perfection depends largely upon the manner in which our parents care for us in infancy and childhood. But after that the retention of a symmetrical figure is in our own keeping, and if we stand and sit properly we are taking the first steps toward being physically fit and pleasant to look upon.

TODAY’S RECIPE

SAVOURY RICK -RITTERS Wash a teacupful of rise, put it into a jar, pour over it a pint of boiling water and put it into a medium oven. Add more water occasionally, as required, and leave the jar in the oven until the rice is perfectly soft and will not absorb any more moisture. All the water must be absorbed before the rice is taken up. Remove from the jar into a mixing bowl, stir in three unbeaten eggs, season to taste with salt and pepper, adding a little

chopped parsley if liked. Beat lightly to mix all well together. Brown a little butter in a frying-pan and drop in the mixture, a dessertspoonful at a time, keeping each spoonful separate. Fry golden brown on both sides, and serve at once. The quantities given are sufficient for six persons.

BADLY-FITTING STOCKINGS

j Very often stockings and socks { which are otherwise satisfactory fit I badly at the ankles, but the fault is easily rectified. Put some silko of the exact colour into the machine, fold the stockings carefully and stitch through the doubled stocking at the required distance from the seam, using a small I stitch. Start at a point which the - shoe will cover, and finish by running ! the stitching into the stocking seam, j taking care to do so gradually. Don't make the seam too wide; it is easy to run another row of stitching outside if you have not taken in the stocking sufficiently. In the case of very thin stockings the tuck can be cut off, but the edges must be overcast closely and carefully or the fabric may run. To tell whether a stocking is fully fashioned, look at the back of the

leg. In fully-fashioned hose several lines (made up of stitches on top of each other) will run the full length of the stocking on each side of the seam and into tfiem others will disappear, each line forming an angle with the outside straight line. Unfashioned hose have all the lines running parallel for their whole length.

REAL GEMS AGAIN

FASHIONS IN PARIS NO “TIN JEWELLERY" One or two of the leading Parisian dressmakers have made a point this season of using nothing but real jewels on their dresses, and have arranged with some big jeweller to supply them for the mannequin parades. This has meant that mannequins have been seen wearing priceless stones set in the very latest designs at dress parades. This idea has also been followed in London. The value of the gems is set so high that it is believed that each mannequin as she walks on and off is shadowed by a detective. This fashion of real, in place of imitation, jewellery, is one which may, on the whole, be looked at favourably. There has been too much “tin jewellery” during the past few seasons. It is time that there should be a limit to its uses. Yet to set it aside altogether is difficult, since with black ensembles so much in fashion, and with flowers out of fashion, nothing remains to the woman who has no real jewels but imitations. All she is asked to do now- is to choose with discretion her sham gems and wear not tod much of anything. Her rule should he to keep the whole scheme of jewellery decoration within the limits of decoration. On a simple dress one gorgeous jewel, or two, to give it dignity and importance. Decoration on dress is very like ceremony in manners. Overdone it becomes pompous, vulgar, unpleasant. Without any ornament at all, dresses like manners, are dull, rustic, characterless. TUTTI FRUTTI LAYER CAKE For the sponge layers take 1J cups flour, 15 cups sugar, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoonful bicarb, soda, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 tablespoon butter, 3 tablespoons water. Prepare mixture as for ordinary sponge sandwich. Bake in three greased sandwich tins. For the Fillings: Four egg-whites. J cup water, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup chopped figs, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup chopped nuts, a pinch of cream of tartar, vanilla flavouring. Put sugar, water and cream of tartar in an enamelled pan and heat slowly, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil until it becomes stringy, then beat it gradually into the stiffly whipped whites of the eggs. Flavour and divide into three equal parts. Into one portion mix the chopped figs, into the next the raisins, and into the last the chopped nuts. . Spread these fillings between the sponges in the order given (the nuts for the 'top of the cake). Leave until quite cold before using.