Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1882 — Gossip About House Decoration. [ARTICLE]

Gossip About House Decoration.

A new and very handsome style of art needle-work is coming into vogue. The raised designs upon Indian scarfs and Persian wraps are cut out and appliqued on to plush or velvet to serve as screens, portieres, etc. The effect is really beautiful, the designs themselves are so fanciful and most graceful combinations, looking even better upon the deep tones of the plush or velvet backgrounds than they do on the light Eastern fabrics. .It is no longer the fashion to light up large rooms with central chandeliers; on the contrary, light is now provided from the corners of the room by means of upright pillars with extending branches, from which gas-lights gleam brilliantly. The electric light has not yet made much headway in private houses. Painting upon mirrors is brought to great perfection by lady artists, and is much used now in decoration. In the London residence of the artist Boughten, a beautiful calla lily seems to spring from the frame across the glass. It was ingeniously painted there by the artist himself to conceal a flaw in the glass. The patch-work upon which our grandmothers exercised so much ingenuity is the subject of a revival, or, we ought rather to say, of a new departure. This novel patch-work is made by cutting foundation squares of muslin, all the same size, and arranging upon them odds and ends of silk or ribbon, plush or velvet, in any way the maker pleases, basting them together with feather stitch in gold-colored fileselle. The squares when completed are joined together in the same way, and the result is a harmonisus confusion of colors which has quite an Eastern effect. Tidies, those misnamed articles of drawing-room adornment, are to be abolished; in their stead small squares of lace or muslin, or even of darker material, are fitted into the backs of chairs and securely fastened in position. A very strange material has been pressed into service for chair coverings, being nothing less than the saddlebags used by travelers in crossing the great desert. The rough w oolen material which forms the outside covers the front of the chair, while that which is the lining of the saddle-bag provides material for the back of the furniture. In appearance they are very quaint and handsome. Alligator skin, which has for some time been used for bookbindings and slippers, is now the fashion for ladies’ reticules and hand-bags. It is handsome in appearance, but as it takes very few colors, there is no possibility of much decoration- or the exercise of taste in trimming, etc. But, if not particularly striking, bags made of this material are extremely durable, and will last until their owners are tired of them.— New York Times.