The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-07-19
HOME MILLINERY.
Warning Guide Posts for the Woman Who
Trims Her Own Hats.

Lives there a woman with soul SC
dead that she has never tried at least
once, to be her own milliner? don
believe it, The fascination of pretty
''left-overs" in lace and ribbon and
straw braid is too great, the creative
instinct too strong. There has been a
peck of nonsense written about the
homemade hat" one writer in fash
ion department, professedly conducted
for women of moderate means, soIemnly
assuring her readers that no lady
should think of wearing an evening
bonnet that was not milliner-made,
and if possible, it should be imported!
The ''if possible" is delicious especial
ly in these times, and the fact remains
that an undreamed-of proportion OF
the headwear that makes gay the
spring promenade, this year or any
other year, is of home manufacture.
The woman who can spare the
money makes a paying investment II
she takes a brief course in the eIe-
ments of millinery-the tying OF bows
covering of frames, etc. such as varl-
GUS establishments in the city offer for
few dollars If she cannot, let her
use her wits-and tissue paper, for
many handsome piece of silk or rib
bon is wrecked in the tyrO's hand be-
cause the first experiment was made
on it instead of the paper or cambria
with which the professional milliner
always starts the learner.
While the ability to make beau
tiful bow comes only by inspiration,
any of Ewes daughters who is not hope
lessly "handless, as the old-fashioned
folks say, can learn to make fairly
good one, which is all that most mil
liners achieve. Either ignorance or
short-sighted economy is responsible
for the custom among home milliners
of using anything and everything save
the right thing for stiffening these
bows Result-a collapsed trimming,
bits of whalebone or cardboard strips
sticking out, skeleton-like, in every
direction, and deserved modification
Cor the luckless bonnet's maker. Reg
THAR bonnet wire comes at two or three
cents yard, and sewed on decently
lind in order, under the loops, insures
The wearer that peace of mind which
some one "a man, I'll be bound) has
told us even religion is powerless to
afford. Wide bows made of piece vel.
vet mot velvet ribbon) are best lined
with crinoline. If this is done neatly
the lining will not show and holds ul
the heavy material far more effectively
than wire. fjl%t
The delusive idea that small hat Is
the easiest thing to begin on has
wrecked the career of many a home
milliner On the contrary, nothing is
more difficult to make neat and stylish
than the tiny toque which looks so
simple in its constructions few flow
ers, a bow, buckle, or a wisp OF
straw braid, and genius, for without
it, or its equivalent experience, the
toque is the forlornest of failures The
large hat, whose beauty lies in effect
rather than detail, and where origi-
nality ii. o., accident) in trimming is
better bestowed, is by far the safest
for the woman who is not quite sure Of
herself.
A woman whose hats are the envy of
her friends and the product of her own
fair fingers, laughingly declares her
self to have mastered two sciences
that of evolving something out of
nothing and that of making things
last forever 1.-THE way people untrim
hats, discard the 'fxings' and then buy
new ones, appals my thrifty soul, )" she
says. have never thrown away any
thing, but keep all my odds and ends
in big handbook and inside of seven
years find use for them. A ribbon
which is too limp or faded for other
purposes does very we'll under lace or
net; feathers which seem hopeless can
be curled over and over with blunt
pen-knife, and with ten-cent aigrette
made into a very good pompon; touch
Of gilt paint can entirely transform
furnished cords and buckles and faded
quilts AS for the straw itself, l
sponge it over first with water alone
to take of the dust then with water
and gum arabic, which restores its
stiffness; when the crown begins to
break and get hopelessly out of shape
| cut it out, fish out piece of velvet
or silk from my handbook and make it
into Tam OShanter crown, sew it to
the straw brim, and presto! second
best hat for one of the children. j.
E1Ahn