Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-04-20
ICeas for Towels.

ICeas for Towels.
Like table linen, fine towels 60 straight
to the heart of every woman who pos
sesses really womanly tastes. No mat
ter whether her time is spent in an office
or in the more feminine occupation of
directing the affairs of her household,
linens are interesting to her-and linen
includes everything from sheets and pill
low cases and towels through exquisite
things for the table to the coarser kitch-
en- cloths, such as cup towels and bread
towels and the like.
Fashions affect towels. strange as it
may appear, although there are certain
kinds, good in the days of our grand
mothers. which are as staple today as
ever. Some of the old French designs.
wrought in linen damask, are practically
unchanged.
One of them is named Marie Antoin-
cite. 1t has the famous little baskets so
characteristic of the fancy work of her
time. joined for border, with flowers
falling from them all over the towel. An
other is the Duchess and another the
Prairie-the one with design of lilies
of the valley, set on in stately fashion;
the other, with roses and other flowers
given a little more freedom of design.
They are staple among finer things.
lust as the simpler patterns in less fine
-damasks. down to the dots and dice,
which are the most staple of all, and
even damask toweling are staple among
less expensive towels.
But what is most popular of all now.
and what bids fair to be SO Tor u long
time, are buck towels. with a world of
variety in the weight and weave and fin
ishing. An occasional one is woven
with little plain stripes edging both sides
and back, after the fashion of the dim
ity and tape-edged handkerchiefs, the
broken surface interrupted for moment
by plain weave which shows off the
beauty of the linen.
And buck towels-huckab back, to give
them their proper title, although buck
is the name they go by-cOme in every
conceivable size and quality and finish.
Instead of the fringe of few years
ago, even the hanGsomest towels are
finished with a hemstitched hem or with
embroidery, the plain little handworked
scallop which appears on anything and
everything these days, or, perhaps with
drawnwork, or with an edge land inser-
ton to match of Irish crochet lace
the close, firm kind.
Those trimmed with Irish lace are al
most impossible to reproduce, unless
you've been at lace-making for years,
and have learned, through constant
work, the secret of getting the design so
even and so firm that endless washings
will apparently have no effect upon it.
They are costly to buy, but if you've
some old Irish lace laid by. get the fine,
plain buck, and trim the towels with the
lace. If you've only enough for one end,
use it, and hemstitch the other end
Many of the lace-trimmed towels are
done that way.
These are the most costly of all. of
fs,hHzR Al ~
ones included in the list are anything
but expensive, although the work Law
i$hed upon them is what makes the cost.
But the woman who is deft with her
needle may indulge in beautiful towels
10 her hearts content, whether or not her
purse is able to stretch to the price of the
made ones.
Drawnwork offers untold possibilities
70 the woman who can do it we'll Being
done with rather heavy threads-and by
the way, use linen thread for the work
1t goes rapidly, and, if done in a close
pattern, wears splendidly.
There's heavy huck-which is used
often for the finest t0wels-called ''ele-
phant buck" from the surface being
broken up into larger regular irregu-
iarities.' as one woman put it. Yet
the weaving is as close and fine as the
least broken of all. And birdeye-a
cross between buck and damask-is as
popular as buck for the finer sort of
towels
Another buck Cts one of the costliest
of all towels. and a beautyD is Italian,
and is fine, as light and almOst-but not
qute-as smooth. 1t is woven upon a
hand loom. the ends of the warp knotted
with other threads into a fringe made
80 firm and beautiful by the varied weav
ing and knotting that it is like a rare
lace. and, best of all, wears like IRON"
As to embroidering there's a toss-up
between Irish and German fancies. but
the only set rule is that it must be blind
embroidery of not too elaborate a de-
sign. A scallop that grows out into
design Is as popular as any, the work
done in such instances with very little
padding.-House Beautifer.