More About Purple: 'When I am old, I shall wear purple'. For lots of information and fun about this poem and more, visit http://www.redhatsociety.org/index.html

Fran in Melbourne

Cleaning Old Lace: My friend Pam's mother in law, Linda, collects and restores old linens. She has "fixed" some pretty nasty-looking lace for Pam's dolls to at least be usable. Since I have several nifty 40s and 50s print tablecloths, I was interested in old linen maintenance and asked for pointers. Process is lengthy and labor-intensive but she swears by it; method was learned from her grandmother.
(1) Never scrub or use detergent, lace is too fragile. Dissolve Ivory soap flakes in hot water, cool to lukewarm, and then soak the lace for several hours. Rinse by picking up and swishing gently in a basin of water -- again, no scrubbing or wringing. You may have to repeat this three or four times to get most of the dirt out.
(2) When you're satisfied with the overall cleanliness, blot up most of the rinse water by rolling gently in an old towel.(3) Soak the lace in undiluted lemon juice. Spread lace out on a clean old towel and dab extra lemon juice on the remaining spots. Dry outdoors in full sun. Again, repeat several times as necessary until you remove or minimize the stains. Some will just not come out, and don't expect the lace to become snowy white.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Michael's Hutches: Another method for camouflaging inexpensive hutches/furniture is by decoupaging them using paper napkins. Depending on the napkin pattern you choose, and what portion of the pattern, opportunities are limitless.

Bonnie Soucek

For almonds on sweets - cakes use Sesame seeds

Gail

Nuts: Try sawdust or finely ground cork. Have fun!

Tricia

Nuts: I have used bird gravel to make mini nuts. It has different colors and shapes just like ground mixed nuts.

Carol

Sunbonnet Pattern: There is a pattern for a sunbonnet in DHM, May, 1998.

Maureen in Hemel, UK.

Fridges: I have found an antique refrigerator site http://www.antiqueappliances.com/stock.htm-- it gives dimensions and pictures of both open and closed fridges.

Kim from Canada

Stainless Steel Sink: in the January 98 issue of Dollhouse Miniatures, there is an article by Pat and Noel Thomas for making a stainless steel utility sink. In it, they covered the sink with aluminum printing plates. I'm sure it looked great, but seems like a lot of work! Years ago, I made a stainless steel beer tub for the bar in a restaurant room box. I made it out of basswood, and then sprayed it with several coats of Krylon Sandable Primer that I got from an auto supply store, sanding it with very fine sandpaper in between coats (to get rid of the wood grain). Then I brush-painted it with "Old Silver" from Floquil. It worked like a charm. It has a duller finish than it would had I used a silver spray paint. Once you spray on the Primer, and get rid of the wood grain, you could paint your fridge any color, really. (I used the same prep technique on a modern stove, and sprayed it with a few coats of shiny white paint - looks wonderful.)

Deena in Miami

Laser Cut Plants: Linda, sorry I didn't think to add the snail mail address for Warner's Miniatures laser cut paper flower leaves and petals. You can reach them at:
Warner's Miniatures
P.O. Box 44
Lambertville, NJ 08530-0044

Bonni in NH