This season the lingerie hat had taken on a new lease of life and bids fair to be the chapeau par excellence for smart country wear or even for town wear with dresses of washable materials. From its plain beginning of two summers ago, when it was restricted to practically two materials, and its shape and method of trimming to a set form, it has diversified until now it is shown in many different styles. While it is still, of course, made of either lace or embroidery, it is in many instances beautifully trimmed with ribbons or flowers, and even wings and ostrich plumes are occasionally seen.

The materials generally used for the foundation of these hats are flouncings, all-over embroideries or laces or hand embroidered linens or lawns. For anyone who has the slightest knack for millinery, these hats are not at all difficult to make at home.

The easiest way to go about this is to purchase a white wire frame of the required shape. Suppose, for example, you wish to make a hat like the one shown in the center illustration-"Hat of embroidery with brim edged and faced with lace". For this you will require from a yard and half to two yards of eyelet embroidery flouncing, according as you want it put on rather full or plain. This should be as wide as the brim of the hat. Now measure off enough flouncing to cover the brim, putting it on a little full at the top, and sew on, catching carefully to the wires. Never mind if they show underneath for they will be covered by the lace facing. When you have sewed on the top of the brim, measure off the remainder of the embroidery in two parts, sew the embroidered edges together, placing one point between another. Now fit this on the top of the crown, and turn down the edges toward the brim, pleating it here and there on the top of the crown to make it fit. Cover the place where it joins the crown by a ruche of lace maline, soft folds of chiffon or a twist of ribbon continuing around from the front bow. But before putting this ruche or other trimming in place it would be well to face the under brim. In our model it is faced very becomingly with soft folds of white chiffon, while on the edge are three twos of Valensciennes lace put on rather full. It will take about a yard of chiffon and on piece of the lace for this. The trimming consists of a big shirred bow pale-blue louisine ribbon. But if this shirred bow is too difficult for an amateur milliner, a bow with a simple knot is very pretty.

The other two examples of lingerie hats are made in practically the same way, but are more elaborately trimmed.

In summer hats other than lingerie, fin, narrow straws are and will be the smartest and also the most expensive. Leghorn straws are much worn. Milan, Neapolitan, Tagal, Panama, Manila, nine-end straw, Tuscan and Calisaya are leading and expensive hats.

With the increased demand for fine straws, the price has gone up, of course, and untrimmed shapes in narrow straws, hand sewn, are undoubtedly high. Despite the Parisian tendency to wear hats of contrasting colors to the gowns, and also the combinations of many colors-many of course, in subdued tones on the same hat-the modish tendency here is to have hats matching the gown, or at least combining two or three colors and shades only.

Quantities of small flowers are being shown, and there is a noticeable absence, the summer, of the freak shapes and colors of the past two years.-July, 1906