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Vol. XLIV PHILADELPHIA, JULY 1863 No.1. |
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A NEW STYLE OF NET has been introduced,which is rather original; it is made of hair of the exact shade of the wearer's. The fashion is to cut off a tress of hair and to give it to the hairdresser, who will get it made into a net, which, when worn upon the head, may be truly called "invisible." They are netted over a fine mesh, and are exceedingly durable. As the hair is worn so low and full at the back, it is almost impossible to keep it neat without a net, which sustains the hair, and so prevents the dress and collar from being easily soiled. HANDKERCHIEFS. - In England, at present, one of the greatest fashions, in the way of handkerchiefs, are those in cambric with a colored border, double stitched, styled Palmerstons, after their Premier. The favorite colors for the colored stripe are Nankeen, or chocolate, or mauve. Young ladies' pocket-handerchiefs are generally trimmed with a narrow frill, very slightly scolloped at the edge with rose or other colored embroidery cotton, with which the initials are also worked in Gothic characters. ALL VEILS are now tied under the chin. They are worn straight and close over the face, without a fold. There are now scarcely any lace veils to be seen; what are worn are principally fancy, veils such as were general some few years ago -- black spotted veils, veils with black velvet dots over them, others embroidered with straw, or they are made of plain crepe, with a wide hem embroidered with silk in chain-stitch. THE BEST READING. -- The North Iowa Journal says: -- "Peterson has again favored us with a copy of his monthly. We cannot say enough in its praise. The best way we can recommend it is, to advise all to try it for themselves. We will assure you that it is fully worth the subscription for a year. The first engraving is splendid. The reading is choice. There is the best collection of stories in this number that we have read in a long time. Who will deprive themselves the pleasure which this interesting Magazine affords?" The Story of the Guard. By Jessie Benton Fremont. Knapsack Edition. 1 vol., 12 mo. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. -- This is a cheap edition of that very popular work, the story of Gen. Fremont's body-guard in Missouri. Price fifty cents. Apple-Wine. -- Pure cider made from sound, dry apples, as it runs from the press. Put sixty pounds of common brown sugar into fifteen gallons of the cider and let it dissolve; then put the mixture into a clean barrel, and fill the barrel up, to within two gallons of being full, with clean cider; put the cask in a cool place, leaving the bung out forty-eight hours; then put in the bung, with a small vent, until fermentation wholly ceases, and bung up tight, and, in one year, the wine will be fit for use. This wine requires no racking; the longer it stands upon the lees, the better. Lemonade. -- Boil together and skim one pound of loaf-sugar and half a pint of water. Melt in a teaspoonful of water half an ounce of citric or tartaric acid. Let the syrup stand until it is cold, and then add the acid and a teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and, when it is wanted for use, four quarts of water, and a little more sugar, if desired. HOW TO MAKE CLEAR SUGAR. -- Break three pounds of fine white sugar -- the hardest and closest grained is the best -- put it into a sugar-pan, with three pints of clear spring water, set over a sharp fire, and when beginning to boil place it at the corner to simmer, and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon; skim will, and reduce to two-thirds. It is then ready to use for jellies.
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saltpetre,
a quarter of an ounce of storax, half a dozen cloves, a handful of dried
bay leaves, and another handful of dried lavender flowers. This basis
of the Pot Pourri will last for years, and you may add to it annually petals
of roses and of other fragrant flowers gathered on dry days, as fancy may
dictate. By the same rule you may add, if approved of, powdered benzoin,
chips of sandal wood, cinnamon, orris-root, and musk. A very excellent
Pot Pourri may be made in winter with a pound of dried rose petals, bought
at a chemist's, mixed with four ounces of salt and two of saltpetre, on
which are put eight drops of essence of ambergris, six drops of essence
of lemon, four drops of oil of cloves, four drops of oil of lavender, and
two drops of essence of bergamot.
Mode of Ascertaining if Eggs are Fresh. -- A new-laid egg has a white, clear complexion; its varnish shines. Held before the light of a candle, its contents appear clear, transparent, and fluid. When this transparency is only partial, the alteration proves they are not fresh. Striking gently on that part of the egg, the sound given will indicate the size of the air-cell, and that will prove its freshness or otherwise. If the egg is turned quickly to one side, by a rotary motion, the movement is regular, if it is fresh and full; but if more or less empty, it is hard and irregular. To Prevent the Hair from Falling Off. -- Two ounces of Eau-de-Cologne, two drachms of tincture of cantharides, ten drops of oil of lavender, and ten drops of oil of rosemary. This lotion should be used once or twice a day for a considerable time. Fig. IX. -- ANOTHER STYLE -- The hair is arranged in waved bandeaux rolled underneath so as to form two divisions, separated by the parting, which is ornamented in front by a camelia. At the sides, the hair forms puffs composed of smooth tresses which cross each other chequerwise. The back hair is disposed in two smooth loops and a third which hangs down in a hair-net. GENERAL REMARKS -- We give the above descriptions of the latest styles of dressing the hair, in order that our readers may have some notion of the vagaries of fashion, not that by any means we would recommend them to be followed. In fact, there is not one face in a thousand that looks well with the hair in this style. IT IS NOW CONSIDERED in better taste to trim the dress with the same chade of color, or with black. Many young ladies still adopt the loose Garibaldi bodice for morning wear for this season of the year. These bodices are very convenient when made in foulard; they are no longer confined with a band round the waist, but are left loose, and the skirt of the dress is placed over them. There is a very palpable diminution of the amount of trimming upon spring dresses compared with those of last year. Upon the skirt the ornamentation now never reaches higher than from eight to ten inches, and frequently there is only a thick cording (as thiick as an upholster's cord), made of taffetas or of the same material as the dress, and stuffed with cotton wool. This is sewn at the edge of the dress, either straight round or twisted round at each breadth. It is very strong, and preserves the edge from wearing out as effectively as the plaited mohair braid, which has now become common. THE SLEEVES are made a la Conde, and nearly tight, and a great revolution has thereby taken place in under-sleeves, which, instead of being made full, are now cut nearly to the shape of the upper sleeve, and are edged with insertion of embroidery and Valenciennes lace. For plain sleeves the deep wristband is now made, buttoning at the side with a row of enamel buttons, or fastened by one large stud in the middle. The collars are either worn very much larger, or consist only of a small stand-up collar with the ends turned down in front, under which a cravat is always worn. The pretty muslin cravats, introduced last season, are now made with square ends, which are trimmed with insertion of, and edged with, Valenciennes lace. They are so pretty and becoming that one cannot but desire their duration. THE FORM OF THE OUT-DOOR COVERINGS will be the circular cape, and the short paletot or jacket; these will be made of the same material as the dress, and trimmed simply. Or else the covering will be of rich black silk, and made so as to partially fit the figure without clinging closely to it. These jackets or casaques will be trimmed in a variety of ways. For the young ladies they are stitched with white silk, by means of the sewing-machine; not always with the simple back-stitch, but with a chain-stitch in an elaborate pattern. For married ladies they are trimmed more profusely with Maltese lace, gimp, jet, and crossway straps and buttons. Their form is simple; the skirt reaches to the knee in front, and frequently it is arranged with two plaits at the back, so that it falls more gracefully over the crinoline. |
WHITE
HIGH BODICES FOR EVENING WEAR are now displayed in great variety, and many
of them are very tastefully arranged. The most novel are those which
simulate a high and low bodice in one; the top being composed of
plain organdy muslin, and the lower part of straps of embroidered muslin
insertion, and Valenciennes lace laid on so as to give the appearance of
a low bodice; these are generally finished off round the shoulders and
throat with Valenciennes lace, and at the waist with a Swiss band in black
velbet or taffetas. Lace tuckers are still composed principally of Valenciennes
lace and tulle illusion. As low bodices are now cut so as to require
very wide tuckers, puffings of tulle and clusters of small loops of the
narrowest ribbon velvet, placed at equal distances, are necessary, as well
as the Valenciennes edging. The black velbet, which is introduced
into the edging to hold the tucker in, should be tied in front as well
as at the back; by doing so, the tucker will set more evenly and securely.
A GREAT MANY DRESSES are made a VEmpire, which means quite plain and flat upon the hips; and now a way has been discovered of putting the waist under the arms by means of a wide band. This Roman band is made of thick silk; it is very wide, and reaches high upon the bodice in front, and is tied at the back with a large bow. A good share of natural grace is requisite to make this band or sash appear to advantage upon any figure; upon quite young girls from ten to twelve years of age, whose figures are slight, it is the most becoming. At present, all SLEEVES, without exception, are made very long and narrow, and either with a cuff turned back at the bottom or left open a little way, and trimmed all round. This is not very graceful, and it has already been suggested, with such sense, that such a style of sleeve could not be thought of for dresses of a light, transparent fabric, such as barege, mus;lin, or gauze. Some few dress-makers have produced sleeves in the style of those worn in the days of Marie Antrinette -- tight in the upper part of the arm, and thence flowing down in an ample and graceful drapery, very long under the elbow, and narrowing gradually on each side to the front part of the arm. We trust this very becoming fashion may be quickly adopted. EMBROIDERY AND GIMP, with jet beads introduced, will decidedly be the fashionable styles of ornamentation for shawls, mantles, and dresses. The small, colored silk neckties, which are worn both under and above linen collars, are now made with small bouquets of flowers, embroidered at each end, and with the narrowest possible siolk-plaiting around them. The white muslin cravats, embroidered at the ends, and trimmed round with Valenciennes lace, now very generally replace the collar; they are tied exactly as a gentleman's cravet, with the ends in the same direction as the loops of the bows, and not left hanging downward as formerly. Some of these white muslin neckties are embroidered with most tasteful and artistic designs, and form a change from the more old-fashioned collar. BONNETS of the Marie Stuart form are daily gaining ground; they are generally made of white crepe, and small wreaths are placed at the edge of the front, and follow the pointed form. The most suitable flowers, and those which produce the best effest, are the blue myosotis mixed with dead grasses, the lilies of the valley intermingled with pink thorn, the primrose and green grasses with dew-drops on them, Persian lilac with moss of several shades, some tinged with golden brown. Some time will probably elapse before this form of bonnet is adopted, but in the end it is almost certain to be accepted. The apricot color is in great favor for bonnets; and the plantain, a sort of moss which grows in forests, and is a grilliant gold color at the ouside, and brown underneath, is used for trimming. The curtains have sometimes hanging buttons, made of apricot colored leather, round the edge of them. THE HAIRCONTINUES TO BE WORN IN A FULL AND EXCEEDINGLY ELABORATE STYLE. -- Short frizzed curls, or creped bandeaux short at the ear, with two full rolls of hair above, and loops or plaits at the back, are now the general style. Many new designs in tortoiseshell combs have appeared to suit this massive manner of dressing the hair. It is an utter impossibility, now-a-days, to judge of the shape of a lady's head when she has her hair dressed in a fashionable manner. Head-dresses remain as they were worn during the past winter; they are high in front with a cluster of flowers, plain at the sides, and ornamented again at the back. This style proves more becoming than the formal particular style; and as no two heads or faces appeared alike with formal wreaths round them. FOR BOYS a little older, the Knickerbocker suits are fashionable. These pantaloons reach to just below the knee, are full and put on a band. FOR GIRLS, the hats are higher in the crown and narrower in the brim than formerly and are nearly all trimmed with feathers, or bunches of daisies, cherries, or poppies and wheat.
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