The Winter Silhouette.

The military touch which was apparent in our summer sports clothes is accentuated in the winter styles. Broad shoulders, slim hips and a waist are essential; to acquire the latter, choose your foundation garment with care. Then turn your attention to the shoulders. The new neckline is definitely high. If your frock has a wide yoke slipping down over the top of the arm, or epaulettes, or a sleeve that puffs in the right place, or better still a cape collar in self material, white or black, you have attained the shoulder width. How fresh and smart your last year's “best dress” would look with the addition of a cape! And don't forget that sleeves may puff anywhere. I saw a charming black gown with yoke and sleeves in striped material of red, grey and black. At the top of the sleeve pleats hid the colours, but lower down they flared out in delightful contrast. From just below the elbow, black moulded the arm.

Colours and Materials.

These are almost as important as the silhouette. In the matter of colours, dress to suit yourself. If you look regal in purple and lovely in violet, revel in the new season's shades. If you have brown eyes and an olive skin, or just the right fairness, mustard yellow will look ravishing. But if you know perfectly well that these colours do not suit you, don't wear them because they are smart. Wear the colours you like, the shades you have tested, and look your best. Blue is not popular this winter, but you blue-birds can wear grey effectively. The reds are lovely, and orange still holds its own.

And now the materials. It is exciting to turn from summer voiles, linens, silks, to the richness of winter fabrics. English manufacturers are endeavouring to show that they can still lead the world. The looms are turning out a multitude of weaves. You may take your choice; here are corded and diagonal finishes, new flecks and basket weaves in all kinds of woollen fabrics. In the finer materials and in silk the crinkle effect is new. Plain and corded velvets have definitely come into favour.

Sports Clothes.

For the country, for golf, or for morning wear, choose a tweed suit or one in two-tone effect—for instance, a plaid or check skirt in plain fabric repeating the skirt material on the coat collar or one of the new scarf collars. Your skirt should be gored, or else have flat pleats to keep the slim effect. With your two-piece suit, wear one of the new striped silk shirt blouses. Whether you golf, or merely look sporty, a suede coat is an asset. Hip-length coats, belted or not, certainly seem to be here to stay. Have you seen the corded velvet coat worn with a tweed skirt? They are the very latest and so becoming. Wear a jaunty stitched tweed hat or a felt with a tweed finish with your tweed suit, and a velvet with your corded velvet coat. A complete suit of corded velvet is charming for more dressy occasions.

Hand and machine-knitted garments are well to the fore. Jumpers, berets, scarves and cravats in gay colours or with multi-coloured stripes are useful and becoming. I saw a smart jumper knitted in diagonal stripes of brown, tangerine and tawny yellows. Buttons are now worn on jumpers, even on those of the hand-knitted variety, adding interest to the yoke effect or running in glittering lines up the long thin cuffs. By the way, buttons still wink with a steely glitter. They are not quite so military, as the steel often rims a coloured button, or inserts itself in a shiny triangle.

Ermine-velour, fur fabric or fur, is smart and warm for hip-length coats, or for one of the new cravats which are worn with collarless coats or with street frocks.

Hats are Small and Jaunty.

The millinery trade should be showing signs of revival. True, hats are cheaper than they have been for years, but what a temptation it page 54 page 55 is to buy two or three instead of one. The new hats are so individual, no two alike. Before you leave the shop, decide on the exact tilt. The forward and sideways shove is an art, and must not disarrange the coiffure. A sleek head is essential for one side is uncovered, but not sufficiently to allow a winter wind to spoil the general effect. Among the hats, felts hold their own, and tweeds and velvets are new.

Is Marriage Merely a Change of Jobs?

You have probably met the girl who has given up a fairly good office position for marriage, and now, after the first glamour has gone, feels that she has left one job for another—with fewer rewards in the shape of nice clothes and good times. Probably that girl put her best into her office job, and now does not realise that here is her opportunity to show her capabilities as an organiser and a doer. She will reap worth-while rewards in the way of more efficient household management, greater leisure in which to keep up her personal interests, and, best of all, a happy and proud husband.

We all know the woman who always has household tasks ahead of her. She is always thinking of them, and they are always being dragged into conversation. We are sorry for her, and feel that she is bungling her job, but we are too busy and keen on our own tasks to bother about her wails. Salvation lies in treating housework as an ordinary job, a five-hour or six-hour job, not a twenty-four hour burden. And the beauty of a housewife's job is that with a little additional organisation she can have her leisure when she will. If her husband lunches in town, it is so easy, by starting a little earlier in the morning to have her friends in to lunch or to afternoon bridge. The people she has invited will no doubt invite her back and she will build up quite a series of good times. Once the dinner dishes are put away at night, the wife is free to spend a quiet evening by the fireside or to enjoy some little social outing. The “young married” with a little management can have quite as gay a time as her young salaried sister.

* * *

Cork table mats may be cleaned by rubbing them gently with fine emery paper wrapped round a piece of wood.

To remove grease spots from silk, lay the material right side up on a folded towel and apply Fuller's earth to the soiled place, leaving for twenty-four hours. Shake and brush lightly. A second, or even a third application may be necessary to remove the spot completely.

In Season.

In city markets and greengrocers’ shops the marrow is lording it at present, and the country housewife, if she lives in a maize-growing district, is showered under with marrows, so now is the time to test out new marrow recipes.

Have you ever thought of marrow jam? Here is a recipe, guaranteed delicious:

6lbs. marrow;

6lbs. sugar;

3 lemons;

1½ozs. hard ginger (well bruised), and

12 pods of chilies, in muslin bags.

Peel the marrows and remove all soft parts and seeds and cut into small squares, squeeze the juice from the lemons and cut the rinds exceedingly fine. Mix marrow, sugar and lemon in a bowl, and leave for twenty-four hours. Put in the ginger and bags of chilies, and boil for 1½ to 2 hours—until, in fact, the juice jells and the marrow squares are transparent; then remove the muslin bags, and bottle.

N.B.—The marrows must be quite ripe and almost woody, or they will boil pulpy. The chilies may be omitted.

page 56

Marrow Stuffed.

1 small marrow;

1 onion;

1 cup breadcrumbs or mashed potato;

1 egg;

1 tablespoonful flour;

Pepper, salt and a few leaves of sage.

Skin marrow, make an opening in the centre, remove seeds and core, and fill with stuffing. Replace the piece cut out. Dredge marrow with flour, put in a baking dish, baste and bake light brown. Serve with brown gravy.

* * *

This is the season of coughs and colds. A great deal can be done towards keeping immune from colds by building up resistance to withstand the germ infection. Wearing suitable clothing (which should be warm without being stuffy), giving attention to diet, having as much exercise, fresh air and sunshine as you can get, maintaining proper personal hygiene, avoiding hot stuffy rooms and crowded buildings, and, last but not least, keeping your distance from infected persons—these are the important factors in keeping fit.

If you have a heavy head, dry throat, and that cold shivery feeling, it is well to take precautions. Take a hot bath and get right to bed, with a hot-water bottle and an extra blanket, have hot lemon drinks or milk and perhaps two aspirin tablets. This treatment should break up the “cold” if the infection is not severe, and you should be well in the morning, otherwise you must keep to your room and bed for a day or two and take precautions not to spread the infection.

It is especially necessary for anyone with a cold not to come in contact with sick or elderly folk, as they are predisposed to infection owing to their lowered vitality and powers of resistance. So do not visit sick friends in hospital until you are quite recovered and free of infection.

* * *

To Give an Inhalation.

Inhalations are often ordered for head and chest colds. The usual medium is a jug of hot water with inhalant and a bath towel over the head. This is not the best way to give an inhalation, as the pores of the skin are opened to admit a chill and the eyes are parboiled. The correct way is to pour a pint of boiling water into a receptacle with the inhalant ordered, and leave for a minute or two to cool somewhat. Surround with a towel folded to form a funnel; the steam then goes directly into the nose and into the passages and lungs without the discomfort of steaming the face. Another way is to cover the receptacle with a brown paper bag with a small hole cut in the corner. After use, the paper bag should be burnt.

page 57