The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-03

every case considered superior to silk
en- textures. The silk street petit
coat, which is perhaps the most i'm
portant of all woman's under-rigging,
with closely fitting upper portions and
bottoms voluminous with cunningly
shaped founces, still exist. So does
the one used for negligee purposes,
the dressing sacque worn with it be-
ing as delicately hued and as extrava-
gantly trimmed with lace and ribbon.
All other jupons are of the sort that
can be purified by the wash-tub.
American and French and Indian
lawns, pure white usually, and of a
captivating fineness, combine with fra
gile French laces and lawn embroi-
deries for these. In form. as giddy
maid puts it, the petticoats are best
described with three F's-frilly, fool
ish and fascinating.
Hand-tucked to the knees. that they
may be as close about the hips as
possible, below this point these skirts
swell out into flouncing bottoms, as
elaborate, in many cases, as the skirt
displayed by the nimble-footed stage
dancer. Wash ribbons strung through
ornamental headings. with bows and
rosettes at intervals. contribute to
further splendor: and in order that
the stand-out quality of the bottom
may be insured. one petticoat model
is supplied with a deep under ruffie
of silk. This buttons on under the
lace founces, holding them out for
gowns in limp materials. and possess
ing the added virtue of being really a
dust catcher When the skirt is to
be cleaned, the silk ruffie, which is, of
course. white. is taken off and put
through a naphtha bath.
Next in Importance to the petticoat
is the chemise which, in the most
fashionable instances, is much shorter
than formerly. The very short French
slip model is the one most approved,
the absence of sleeves and the fiat
back and front rendering this espe-
cially comfortable as a corset cover
to which use this garment is often
put.
A stylish chemise in the market is
an imported slip of soft, loosely woven
cotton embroidered at the bust and
around the neck and armholes. This
understanding wofully dirty, for
such garments are made by hand by
the pupils of the French nuns-may
often be bought as low as 60 cents
If the material is indifferently fine. the
handwork is genuine handwork and
the first scrubbing brings forth an
elegance that no machine manufacture
can supply.
For that matter. machine-made I'M
derwear is sometimes much dearer
than that fashioned at the French
converts, the youth ana inexperience
of those seweres causing the cheap
ness of the really admirable hand
work there turned out.
But outside of these French sam
pies of child-sewing the studied sim
plicity which everywhere counts in the
fashion world must everywhere be
paid for. So that undergarment which
is soft to the touch and unobtrusive
to the eye may cost three times the
sum of its more famboyant sister.
Colored ribbons and cotton laces are
lavishly employed on the cheapest of
the domestic made models, but even
among these there is sometimes a
garment which a little manipulation
can wrest from the ranks of the phi
listine. For one thing, always sub
stitute white ribbons for colored ones,
and select materials which will wash
soft, even If they seem at FIRST coarse
and harsh.
American lawn, in which a number
of the new undergarments are made.
is an admirable material for launder-
ing, becoming as soft as null if starch
is left out, as ii should be. Some
pretty chemises in this material are
longer and fuller than the French