Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1909 — GOWNS RUINED BY NEGLECT. [ARTICLE]

GOWNS RUINED BY NEGLECT.

The gowns ot the careless woman «re more often injured by neglect than by wear. To take off a gown and toss it on a chair to lie there till morning is to make it a mass of wrinkles. To hang it in a crowded closet, on one hook, is also to crush and muss it * " Skirts should be hresg on hangers. These support the sides evenly and the material is not drawn out of shape, as it is when hung by the usual loops supplied by the dressmaker. Delicately colored gowns may be enclosed in bags of glazed muslin, blue by preference. These should hang from the hanger, and may be opened down one side and buttoned over for convenience in removing the skirt and putting it back. Another way is to get a few yards of silkoline or other light, cheap ma terial, make a large square of it, cut a place in the center to admit the hook of the hanger, bind the edge of the opening and slip it on over the skirt This, being light and soft, does not crush the gown while protecting it from dust. PHhCess gowns should never be hung. Keep them in boxes. They get stringy if hung up. Opera coats should be hung on shoundel hangers; these may be padded, covered with ribbon and perfumed with sachet. Small sachet bags hung in the dress bags or the silkoline squares gives a fragrance to the skirts.

A pole set across one end of a closet, high enough so that skirts swing clear, will be found a more convenient support for the bangers than hooks on the sides, of the closet; it i§ also more commodious. Shirtwaist boxes are almost indispensable for cotton waists, which may be laid one upon another without injury. Lace waists should be stuffed with tissue paper and laid in boxes; silk waists may be kept on' padded hangers and enclosed in bags. Silkoline covers made as for skirts, only smaller, are nice for them. All this looks like “too much trouble” to the average woman, who thinks she does her duty by her best gown If she hangs it up and covers it with an old sheet. The care, however, Is an essential part of being well dressed, for no matter how hand some the costume, if it looks mussed it has no style. Once the bags or covers and the hangers are made there is no further trouble or expense; there is merely the need to cultivate the habit of using them at the proper time. “Too tired” is no excuse for throwing a tailored skirt on a chair till morning, even if it does need brushing and cleaning before being put away. Hang it up. A waist, however, should be allowed to air before being enclosed in box or bag, especially if moist with perspiration.