Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1875 — Spring Costumes. [ARTICLE]

Spring Costumes.

The first indications of spring styles are found in suits of plaid and striped wool goods, and in the new lace-figured per-ale costumes. There is nothing yet very new in the manner of making these. Most of the early imported dresses have a basque and tablier, with sometimes a jacket; the skirt is, as usual, trimmed witu Bounces, both pleated and shirred, headed by puffs. Great variety, however, is given to costumes by employing two materials, one of plaid and the other striped in the colors ot the plaid, and the object seems to be to have no two dresses exactly alike. Thus in one costume the sleeves, skirt and flounces are striped, with a basque and apron of plaids, while perhaps the dress hanging beside it entirely reverses this plan, and a third costume is a mixture of both the others. The apron promises to supersede the regular over-skirt, and it is also the objective* point- for trimming, having tiiple bands laid on to imitate or outline these aprons, or else there are two deep-point-ed Uptons trimmed separately; at the back are straight, wide breadths, hanging in sash-lovps or else plain, ami these are sufficiently ample to dispense with puffs, rutiles, or other elaborate trimming on the back of the' under skirt. There is no,doubt that we are to have a quadrille season, not cf high-colored tartans, but of dark brown plaid and soft gray tints_weif .blended. These are in broken, , irregular plaids, even crossbars, pin-head checks, large blocks, and every possible arrangement of squares. They arc usually shades of some quiet color, but the newest axe “ illuminated,” as dealers say, by lines and bars of vivid scarlet, blue or ecru. Something of the illuminated lines appears in the trimmings, as pipings, facings and lining of bows, collar and sash ends. Debegewill be the popular material in these designs, and a large percentage of the importations is of brown shades. Wha.t are known as the Madras colors also appear in these plaids—odd, quaint tions, showing brighter colors than have been worn on the street for many years, yet softened to good taste by association with quiet colors. Blue upon blue is also well thought of in plaid wool stuffs for young lad tes, and shawls of the same plaid are imported to match the suits. Black and white checks will be popular, especially for bordering plain> solid colors.

A stylish model for making such suits is'as tollows: Striped skirt of walking length, showing alternate stripes of brown and ecru, both over an inch wide, trimmed with a deep kilt flounce arranged to bring the dark stripe on top of each pleat. A deeply-pointed double apron of plaids of these two shades is cut to make the plaids bias, and is edged -with brown or ecru lace; the long sashends behind are also .bias plaid, with a Byron collar and lace border; the sleeves are striped, with plaid cults edged with lace. With this is worn a*brown chip nat, trimmed with a plaid scarf and ecru feather. The novelty in soft-finished French percales is a lace-like design of white on a color —blue, brown, ecru, gray or black. This lace figure is in open webs, and in star and compass patterns like those found in Hamburg work and English embroidery. Sometimes the design is in stripes, again it covers the entire ground, and in many cases it forms side bands near the selvedge for trimming the tablier, sash and cuirass. A French design for making such suits employs a blue percale with white star lace-pat-tern all over it, with trimming of solid blue pleatings alternating with gathered rutiles of the lace-figured percale. The skirt has a solid blue pleating around the bottom, then a gathered rutile of figured percale, and the arrangement is repeated again, trimming the skirt up to the knee. The short, round apron over skirt is figured and has solid blue pleating on the edge. The figured basque is round, reaches wellover the hips, is piped with blue on the edge, has postiln n pleats behind and two bias bands of plain blue extend up each front and back, making four length wise bands of trimming. The coat sleeve has a blue pleating turned toward the wrist and another toward the elbow, separated by a band of the lace figures. Pleated white linen rufl in the neck and sleeves. White chip hat with flaring brim piped with blue; blue gros grain band and loops; dark wing and blue ostrich tips. A chestnut brown percale, as soft and smooth as foulard, is dotted with white stars and trimmed with side bands stamped in white guipure de-ign. A deep-pleated flounce on the skirt is edged and headed by the guipure band. Tne deep, round apron is drawn up in wrinkles high on the tournure and trimmed with three bands to represent three aprons; Jhe back breadths hang separately and straight, and are shorter in the middle than on the pointed sides. The basque is deep in front and rounded upward on the sides to match the apron and hangs in pointed pleats behind. Square collar and cufl’s bordered with a band.

Small checks and plain or striped grounds form the foundation of many percale suits that are trimmed with flounces bordered ...with plaids of the shades used in the dress. These are in quaint grayish-blue with dark brown with ecru, pink with gray, ppune with blue, etc. The material seds for thirty-five cents a yard. A simple, stylish suit of mottled blue-gray ground, with Diaid border of blue, black and while, has a deep-gathered flounce of the mottled percale, edged with two bias plaid bands; lapping on this is a narrow rurtle laid in side pleats and headed and edged with plaid. The apron, of medium depth, bordered with plaid, has no back breadths, but founds upon the bustle, where there are many loops. Simple cuirass basque, bordered with plaid. Coat sleeves, with a wide plaid band around the wrist and two narrower rows above it. The twilled plaid silks introduced by exclusive modistes last summer arc now j largely imported for sea-side costumes. ' The prettiest patterns are lavender grounds barred with ruby, ecru with navy blue or pink with dark brown plaids. The checks and plaids of black grenadines have-grown to great size, the most fashionable being in squares of two inches, though the pin?bead canvas meshes of year will remain popular. These elitcks tire placed in stripctraJ eri nating wi h gros gram stripes, moire,,<>r [ brocaded stripes. * erluys» the richest I of all are the veiVet plaid grenadines,

having large bars of black velvet passing each way on thq sheer grenadine ground. Ladies are timid about purehasihg the>e, as the velvet bar is very heavy on the thin support of grenadine, but merchants deciare them to be durable. These fabrics wifi be made up in over-dresses to wear with black velvet skirts This fashion found great favor at the sea-side last summer even at midsummer, as the dampness has no effect on grenadine, and the velvet skirts did not seem out of taste or too heavy amidst the cool seabreezes. Pekin grenadines—that is, striped — are shown in blue upon blue, or black upon ecru or white, or any stylish color in cameo shading, Thq price is $2.50 a yard. Ecru grenadines barred with black velvet are very elegant and also costly, being $5 or $0 a yard. Very rich white grenadines have "large blocks-oP white satin, and are $7. Broche grenadines with raised figures in stripes are the same price. Pretty pink and white, or else blue or green bars on white, are $2 50 a yard.

The colored velvet grenadines are the novelty of the These are striped or barred, and have pale-blue grenadine grounds with dark-blue velvet bars or else stripes. Cream-colored grounds witlvblack velvet stripes are very handsome. Bayadere stripes of black velvet on black or blue grenadines are stylish and cost $6. The cool, fresh looking linen lawns are the lowest priced, most durable and tasteful of all cheap fabrics. These cost from twenty-five cents to forty cents a yard. The designs are waved stripes of coral, blue*or black. There are also many plaids in color, and the usual dots, dashes, stars and lozenges. Pin-head checks cut to form bias bands will be much , used for trimming goods of solid color. This will be. especially popular for blue and white summer silks, brown and white, and black with white. When the dress is made of these small checks large blocks are used for borders. Brown and white check silks, trimmed ; with larger checks, will make pretty traveling-dresses for brides. New square shawls for early spring days have plain centers with light band for borders and are reversible. Thus a light-gray shawl with dark-gray border on one side xvill have the other center of dark-gray with light border. The fringe is richly tasseled. — Harper's Bazar.