Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-16
Lighting the Summer Home.

| The city woman of modest means
spending her summer at a small cottage
often feels that lighting by lamps and
candles means a good deal of extra work.
| She misses the convenience of just turn
| Ing on a switch.
In the first place. get the odorless kero-
sene. If the lamps have been used be-
fore the oil fountain should be washed
out and dried and the burners boiled in
strong soda water. New wicks should
be boiled In vinegar as a safeguard
against smoking. and If new lamp Chin
neys are put into a vessel of cold water
and then kept on the stove until the
water boils they will be less liable to
break.
Lamps should be attended to every day.
The rags and oil should be kept in one
place. Never leave rags saturated with
oil In dark closets or under sink. say
for fear of fire by spontaneous combus-
ton. Trim the wicks by pinching off
the burnt crust: never cut them with the
scissors. a mop or sponge is good for
cleaning lamp chimneys, plunging them
into hot. soapy water. Rinse in warm
water containing a few drops OF am
monia and wipe dry with clean cloth.
Never use cold water for rinsing. be-
cause it takes so long to dry the CHM
ney.
Lamps should never be left half empty.
because the oil tends to generate gas.
which may explode. At the same time
lamps should never be filled quite to the
top, because when the oil is heated 1t
expands. and, if the lamp IS full. 1t must
have some way of escape
The wicker lamps are approved for
country cottage lighting, and these are
easily kept looking. nice. since both base
and shade are of wicker soft silk
handkerchief will be the best thing for
busting the wicker. Take care the fin
gers are free from oil when busting
The lamps hanging from the ceiling
are safest, but given a good. firm base
and carefulness. the table lamp should
be safe. Many women buy only the oil
tank and burners, stand the lamp in
pet piece OF pottery and get a shade to
match. These oil well lamps come in all
sizes, so one can buy to fit any possess
sion in the way Of vase.
Hemstitching.
The home dressmaker should give
thanks that one of the most popular trim
mings in fashion today isl hemstitching
and its sister, the picot edge. No fabric
lends itself so we'll to this form of deco
ration as taffeta- Styles, too are simple.
Hemstitching as a trimming gives the
garment quite the professional touch
OF course, few need to be told the
stitching is more effective if put out TO
be done. but in remote places one cannot
always find a person to do it. However.
a very good substitute may be produced
on the ordinary sewing machine
To make a hem haste strip of ma
terial to the portion of the garment, cut
| ting it the desired width. Then place
| several thfcknesses of newspaper be-
| tween. When the material is firm bast-
| ing is unnecessary; the seams can be laid
| together, but in the case of anything so
| fragile as chiffon it must be properly
| basted. Otherwise 1t will pucker and
draw. Now, put under the machine and
can be taken away and the material
drawn gently apart, when a row of
| stitches closely resembling hemstitching
will be seen. The raw edges are turned
back and lightly caught down with the
needle and fine thread. To make a picot
| edge cut through the hemstitching.
Hemstitching put out to be done costs
| 10 cents a yard, little enough for such a
pretty and fashionable trimming. The
| hem must be basted in evenly before
! sending the stitching out. In the case of
chiffon it is very necessary to draw a
thread as guide to cutting straight. II
| Is impossible to make an even hem If
| this is omitted Not one in a thousand
can cut chiffon perfectly straight trust
| ing to the eye alone. and unless a hem
stitched hem is exactly even all the way
through its beauty is lost.
When one wishes a picot edge no hem
| is set in. The material is sent with just
! the raw edges cut perfectly even. whether
The operator runs the stitch half an inch