Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-04
FOR A TIDY GIRL
The Possibilities Of a Bag Of
Pieces.
ALL SORTS OF THINGS
GOOD METHODS OF ASSERTING
AND FRESHENING.
Economical Ideas That Are Well
Worthy Study and
Results.

| her brow ana questioned the WOil III VI hSi
piece bag. wondering whether it paid rent
| for the space it occupied. Now, whenever
she looks at a fashion book. she gives the
bag a mental hug and wonders how she ever
doubted its value. Never has a season pre-
scented such possibilities for the piece bag in
it's vogue for lace sleevelets, fuckers and
chemisettes, jabots, chiffon choux and flow
ers, dangling cord and velvet trimmings and
| mosaic-like applications. The handy girl
can put all sorts of fashionable touches to
her wardrobe from the contents of her piece
bag and If she is also the Tidy Girl, she
has these same contents wrapped neatly in
| individual bundles or pinned together care
| fully.
The piece bag is not necessarily bag. 1t
may be box or it may be a drawer; it may
be even a small-sized trunk upholstered and
disguised as window seat. But it is in the
inside, not the outside, that the Tidy Girl
rejoices at present, and at the end of the
season she is likely to find her stock of odds
and ends perceptibly depleted.
The girl who has her frocks and blouses
made at home is more likely to have we'll
filed piece bag than the girl who buys her
clothes ready made or has them built by a
dressmaker away from home. True, the
latter girl might not find such possibilities
in piece bag, but neither will she have SO
many pretty little handmade accessories 10
her garments.
A well-filled bag has endless variety of
bits of material, from plain white muslin to
scraps of finest silk, panne velvet and
broadclOth left over from the tailored suit.
1t has bolts of edging and insertion picked
up at sales squares of fancy silk, applique
trimming, cords and tassels and laces, rib
bons, feathers, flowers and buckles taken
from diSmantled hats. Perhaps few FUR
tails which have been in the family for
years, old lace scarf that belonged to
grandmother, set of coral buttons, beaded
fringe, brocaded velvet squares, all these
things are found in the piece bag, and from
them may be fashioned innumerable dress
accessories demanded in the present vogue
for trimming.
Fresh and Otherwise.
Usually, the contents of the piece bag
are not fresh looking. as many Of them
have been put away after having been rip
ped off a gown or waist or hat, and no tidy
girl ever uses piece Of material or trim
ming without first freshening it up and
pressing it to make it look as nearly like
new as possible. And the metal buckles
or buttons must be polished and frightened
before they can be used. Steel buttons or
buckles much used in fashionable jack
cts and hats just now, may be frightened
with silver polish and brush. Jet some
times becomes dingy looking, especially If
it has been exposed to salt sea air. and it
may be cleaned with little sweet oil on
a wad of cotton and afterward polished
with an old glove.
SO many of the embroideries on the spring
gowns seem to be of heavy cord lace when,
in reality, it is not lace but a trimming
made by the hand-workers in the dress
makers establishments from cord, sewed
together and twisted and curled into arts
tic designs. Any girl who is at all handy
with her needle may do this with a few
bolts of cord in the color she desires. The
girl who is artistic will draw her own pat
terms on scrim or paper, and apply the
cord, although she may have pattern
stamped at an embroidery shop.
Another form of trimming suits this sea-
son is with queer little application which
look like the tiles in the fireplace hearth,
but which are made from bits of broad
cloth or other wooden fabric, stitched on in
squares, triangles or circles like a crazy
quilt and finished with a narrow braid or
cord, or even piping of the material. For
instance. a skirt of navy blue broadcloth
may have one of the mosaic-like appIica-
tons in the center of each gore-as a trim
ming. The design might be of two or three
shades of blue broadcloth applied in tri-
angles of the different shades and finished
at the edges with a black or dark blue
cord
With This Start.
Perhaps last summer girl had an en-
broidered muslin gown, the blouse of which
is now worn beyond repair but the skirt of
which is comparatively good. If she has
decided that she does not want to wear the
Shil elSodlil Win a NdiSl " SHe
has, doubtless, put it away in her piece
bag, sans band sans any sort of shape
just the plain piece of soiled embroidery.
Now, when embroidery muslin hats are all
fashionable for summer, she may utilize
this skirt for making one. The material
must be washed in warm water and white
soap with a touch of bluing in the rinsing
water to take out the yellowness, and care
fully pressed. Then it can be arranged
over hat frame and trimmed with cream
or pink roses and maybe a black velvet
bow.
| Velvet is sure to be among the contents
of the piece bag, and 1t is just as sure to
need steaming if it has been used before
| To freshen up a small piece of velvet, lay
| it down fiat with damp cloth on the
| back and apply hot iron to the CLOTH
| If it is a large piece it is well to fill a
| basin with boiling water and stretch the
velvet over it so that the steam may push
| up through it and raise and brighten the
| nap. Velvet ribbon is treated in the same
| way.
Occasionally a girl puts her old wells away
| in her piece bag after she has worn them
until they are out of style or she tires of
| them. If she wants to take them out to
| wear again they are hopelessly creased
and all the stiffness is gone. A veil is
stiffened and made 10 look like new by Dip
| ping it in water into which a little gum
arabic has been dissolved. This is also
| good way for stiffening laces. Sweetened
| water serves the same purpose for laces,
| and if an ecru tint is desired, sweetened
| coffee water is the solution into which to
dip them. Old laces which are stained
| and greasy should be put into sweet oil
for several hours, then taken out and
| sewed onto white muslin, lacking every
| scallop and point carefully and wrapped
about a rolling pin and hung over kettle.
/ Pour cold soap suds-made from pure
| white soap-oVer it and boil until clean.
| Rinse the lace without removing it from
| the muslin and dry in the hot sun.
| Soft leather and kid crush belts are be-
| ing worn with tailored shirt waists, and
| for these accessories there is nothing so
] servceable the skin purchased at glove
| store or furriers. From a whole skin, which
| can be purchased either in the natural
| color or dyed. for low as a dollar, sew
| eral girdles and turnover cuffs and collar
| sets may be made. Soft gray kid with the
| natural rough edge makes a smart belt to
! wear with the gray pedestrian skirts so
| much in vogue Every really complete
| piece bag has some bits of leather or kid.
| So often a bit of material in the piece bag
| could be used If the Tidy Girl knew how to
take out the marks of machine stitching.
| The cloth should be dampened and allowed
| to dry, naturally, to permit the threads to
| go back into place. Then the goods should