1939-10-03 — Page 18

Tuesday,

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

October 3, 1939.

BILL ZOR

W

JANET JAY SHORT CUTS

Finds

THERE must be few home-

makers who don't run up some of their own and the children's frocks, and things like curtains and loose covers nu well.

Tho trouble about dressmaking at home is that one's work is in clined to spread itself all over the sitting-room.

You have probably found that the dining table in firment for the hand-sewing machine, you want the dressmaker's model handy for filing, and the floor often offers the largest space for cutting out, In my experience at any rate.

Even a large table wan't always inko he full width or length of the material or pattern.

Another thing about dressmaking at heine-do you find that hits and pieces Hide themärives about the house?

Hunt the Thimble

Patterns disappear mysteriously when wanted, and finding pins, thimble or piece bag may mean a hunt through cupboards and drawers.

Having mentioned the sangs. 1 thought it might be a good idea this week in talk about ways to make home dressmaking easier.

It all started when I found a dress- making board for cutting out which you can put either on the table or the flour. I struck me as such a sensible idea that I started looking round for other dressmaking gadgets.

This board (which costs 5s, with d. lor poal), enables you to open out material full width for cutting, to fold it accurately lengthways or bläs, and it cannot slip or slide about, a great help when cutting almay fabrics like georgette.

Thero la less chance of waste in cut- Ung when you can see exactly how the pattern is going to work out,

Sewing Gadgets,

Storing it is enay, too, for 1 folds up to be put away in a cupboard. Which reminds me that it is a good plan to have one cupboard solely for Bewing gadgets.

Your hand machine can go on the floor, sleeve board, strears, work box on selves above. A box for pieces on

In The Kitchen

the

for Home Dressmakers

First assantial

is a sharp pair of dross- making shears.

top shell, And boxes Ior buttons. tapes, hooks and eyes, make sure thint these

are always nt hand when wanted. inve always thought thint one should have some

method of filing paper patterns. I fold them carefully and put them back in their envelopes when finished with. and pick these envelopes on end skie ways in a shallow box,

Thin way it is easy to run through them when you want to find any special frack or cont pattern.

One of the nicest kinds of sewing machine is the electric machine, com- plete with built-in light,. Alted into a cabinet which makes a meful side table when the machine is not being used. The electric molor leaves both

BEFORE beginning to cook, lower hands free to guide the work, and gives

the plate-rack of your stove and cover it with a tea-towel, for then the boiling saucepans will not steam the windows and walls, as the cloth wil absorb the vapour as it rises.

A colander fitted into a saucepan Inakes a good substitute for a steam- er, and vegetables cooked in this Way relal their vitamina and nourishment, but remember that cooking by this method requires a Ittle longer time than by the or dinary way.

If there is no time to put tomatoes in hot water before skinning them.

wrinkle the skin a little by gentle squeezing, and they will then peel casily. Cut them up with an egg slicer-and-they are ready for the salad bowl.

Save used drinking straws and put them in a vase on the kitchen man→ telpiece, for they make splendid, tapers for the gas stove.

When two tumblers become fixed one inside the other and are dimeuit, to separate, pour cold water into the laner one and stand the outer one In fairly hot water. When the inner! glass contracts and the outer one ex-! pands, they enn be easily taken apart,

G. G. T.

your sewing & tnore professionaí took.

machine, you can have an electric But if you have a modern hand motor fitted to it. i costs only 12s. Gd. and is well worth it if you do much sewing at home.

Machining Tip

When using a hand machine, by the way, try putting a blanket folded into several thicknesses under it. It lessons the vibration, and saves a polished table from marke.

Next to the actual sowing, I find that proper fiting, pressing and finishing

take all the difference between the- home-made and the professional touch.

If you have to fit yourself, you will find niodel which can be moulded great help. It can be altered-in-a- Exactly to your own measurements a

moment to fit someone else.

gadget which is set to a certain Hems are easier to level if you use a

number of inches from the ground. You move it round as you pin up the Hem and it ensures an even hang.. It coats 24. Od. with od, postage.

An ironing table is essential for good pressing, and I would add a sleeve board for dressmatcing purposes.

Com- This

I found a large size board plete with a sleeve board. slides into a compartment

under- neath the table when not in use. There is an extra shilling for car- rluge if you live outside London,

you are working on a material ` which marks easily, try this way of pressing the long seams.

Det someone to hold one end of the scam, wrong side upwards, while you hold the other, pull the material tout, then pass the iron along the seam. opening it out as you go. This won't

MIDGE:

Ho Stars!

"But the star fish likes being King of the Castle?"

What Happens To The

Film Stars' Wardrobes

PRACTICAL

HINTS &

EQUIPMENT

flatten the pile of fab- rics like velvet,

Warm iron and a damp cloth save put- ting naine on wool- lens, but I found n special droning pad which in useful when prezsing zuits of costumen.

It has rusticas wire gauze on the alde which gets next the material; the other alde la flannel, and when using you rab this ride over with a wet sponge before presaling with the hot tran.

fount the gauze will reduce aline on voru suits, and silks can be pressed on the right side.

Burning or scorching can't happen with a "controlled heat" electric Iron. This has a point which is turned to the right heat for rayon, silk, wool, cotton or linen, and this is auto- matically maintained as long as you äre ironing.

No-Waste Iron

It saves current, too, because you are never using more than you need for the jobs, in hand.

Of courze you have a good taps measure, sharp cutting-out scissors und plenty of pins, but tällor's chulk is actul for marking notches, and I keep A packet of small hairpins in my work- basket, because the double prong of a hairpin stays put in lace or not.

Pins won't go astray if you stick them in a fat, old-fashioned pincushion as you discard them.

Pinking shears are still rather ex- pensive, but are worth it if you make your own clothes. They cost 20s. Ed. a pair, post Od, and cut the material -with a notched edge which never frays- and saves the extra work of binding or overcasting scams,

Linen And China To Match TABLE linen designed to match

your chino-that's the newest idea in the most exclusive furnish- Ing shops, but you need not be a millionaire to adopt it in your din- ingroom.

All you need is some of the new WHAT happens to good screen plain coat (incidentally, the sleeves that blessed modern invention, blos pastel-tinted linen, a card or two of clothes when they are discarded of this cont are cut on the blas-just binding, and quite ordinary skill with after the film is completed? What for novelty); the other two are fluffy a needle. Or, if your favourite china becomes of the stunning gowns evening gowns with picturesque has a floral design, copy it on the Gloria Gorgeous word in her latest skiria. Anne took a particular in corners of the cloth, napkins or dia- (and greatest) film? And what do terest in the blue marganza becausener mats in dull falsh embroidery the stars do with their own "old" she designed the necklace worn with silks. clothes?

i-a scarf made of pink velvet with Hundreds of letters asking these dark brown hearts. questions arrive each year in the sturs mailletters from the curious, Dress Distribution from ardent fans who want a frock

for n keepsake, from youngsters who

These, and other clothes from the frankly ask for the clothes, appar- stars personal wardrobes, are often

To copy a design on china is usual- ly quite easy. Nowadays, when so many tea and dinner services are decorated with bands of hand- painted colour, all you have to do is

ently operating on the principle that sent to relatives Ilving la towns for at the bands in the same tones the stars have an unlimited supply.

from Hollywood, or are given to of blas binding. Lot them run round The players cannot, of course,

ambitious young girls struggling to the hem of the neutral tinted cloth, grant these requests for the simple win fame (because most stars can re- and finish the corners with a single reason that the studios furnish and member when similar old pulled initial in the most interesting colour. own all clothes worn in production them through a critical mament), or Bins binding, which can be had in by femining members of the cast, to maid stand-ins, or charitable or wonderful colour range in cotton, (The men furnish their own-unless Eanisations.

It's a costume picture), Purchased by Themselves

linen, slik and artificial silk, is very easy to work with, and if you can Many production clothes not worn give your initial a modern, squarish or purchased by the stars are taken look, so much the better. over by the publicity department, lo

be used in various ways to exploit To copy

floral china design that

But what does become of these a picture. clothes? Well, Ginger Rogers, for

ls not very simple, trace the out- Each year dozens of costumes go lines from a plate to a piece of trans- one wears hers out if they are used out from the studios to travel all parent paper. In a dancing sequentee. In fact, two

Then with carbon frocks, exactly alice, are made for over the world, mute heralds of com- poper, repeat it on the linen to be

Ing productions. Sometimes they sewn. Both are cleaned nightly from dust abroad-as awards in contests.

return, frequently they collected on the studio floor, and

each of Miss Rogers's dance numbers.

just about manage to last for the Rummage Sale production.

remain

Don't overdo the repetition of a design. If your teacups are wreath- ed with dowers, don't have the somo Many of the clothits worn in pro-

flowers in the same size all round But the majority of these glamor your tablecloth. Simply concentrato duction are purchased by the stars ous star wardrobes are rotted and on one grouping, enlarge it, and for their personal wardrobes. They remade, sometimes five or six times, transfer it to the corners of the cloth can't go wrong in such purchases, They are worn by stand-ins and and napkins. Use discretion. for the gowns were designed for them minor, players, appear in comedy building up a set; exact copying it in and their personal foibles, it per shorts, and costume "extras" work so often inclined to be crowded and fectly, and are becoming. Carote ing in mob, scenes.it Lombard recently

monotonous. purchased the Then about once a year, the ward- fashionable three-piece suit of belge robe stages a "rummage sale," sell If the china is cream with a de wool which was designed for her dozens of dated gowns no longer_use= sigri in yellow and green, avoid hav role in "In Name Only. Hollywood ful to them. Extras, players down ing a linen set, in cream with the still recalls the time Lucille Ball on their luck, freshfaced nowcomers karne. design 'In the same, colours, bought all the clothes she were in living on a modest Income, buy these That may be accurate, but it isn't, This black Jersey frock, with one of her films, down to the last frocks, dye and remake them once always smart. Tead have the padded raglan sleeves, ~ has pleats glove and ahoe. folded into the back of the shirt, a

more, wear them for an all-important cloth in yellow or pale green with Anne Shirley purchased three of appointmont at a casting office, muggentiari' of lowered waistino In the ensembles doigned for her latest

the decoration in the other two the seaming, and slido closing down picture, "Career!"; one a navy blue in Gloria Gorgeous's oldest; gowa not very "Interesting:

And then, who knowal Terhaps, shades, especially if your china la the back...:

street ensemble with red, and blue new star la born.

W A

L

L

HHHHS and in

&

Teeth like the STARS

Don't envy the beautiful teeth of your

favorite movie star. You, too, can have

of HOLLYWOOD

markable safe cleansing action..

Kolynos is a concentrated dentifrice

sparkling teeth and a flashing smile-only a half-inch on a dry brush is

just use Kolynos, the modern scien- tific dentifrice that thousands of dentists recommend because of its re- BRIGHTEN your SMILE with KOLYNOS

KOLYNOS

DENTAL CREAM

CEILINGS

BEICH

needed. Try Kolynos and see how this unusual, creamy dentifrice will make your teeth sparkle.

For further ECONOMY BUY the LARGE TUBE

KOLYNOS

the antiseptic DENTAL CREAM

CELOTEX

CANE FIBRE INSULATION

THE CELOTEX CORP.

Stocks Carried

CRACK OF CRANE

SHEWAN TOMES & CO., LTD.

HONG KONG

G

P 100% Y 100% British

G.B.S.

M

PYGMALION

100% "Comedy".

100%

M.G.M.

COUNT THE TELEGRAPHS!

EVERYWHERE

Sole Agents

COPIES OF

CANTON

PHOTOGRAPHS

by "Staff Photographer" appearing in tha

"SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST”

and

"THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH"

may be purchased

at the Business Office

of "The Hongkong Telegraph" Morning Post Building,

Wyndham, Straat, cove