[Illustration: FIG. 141.--Consumers' League Label and Union Label.] 8. It is sometimes more economical to decide on a particular color for a season. One can, as a rule, wear one's clothes to more economical advantage and look better dressed by choosing a particular color than if one has a red dress, a blue coat, and a green dress for best. The coat is probably worn with both dresses and may not look well. 9. Remember, if one has only a limited amount of money for clothes, one should not try to buy the very latest fashions. Exaggerated styles live but a short time, and some of us must wear our clothes for a long time, until they are worn out. If materials are good, one can often have one's clothes remade, by combination with a little new material of a contrasting kind. A knowledge of textile materials and values will always help in selecting either ready-made clothing or materials. 10. Remember you must _know_ about the things you wish to purchase. Clerks as a rule know very little about the goods they sell. If you know, you can make the dollars earned buy more than if you were ignorant. [Illustration: FIG. 142.--It takes much thought to learn to buy intelligently.] =What should you think about in buying materials?= Here are some of the hints for purchasing wool and silk materials or garments which Miss Travers gave the Pleasant Valley girls. Talk them over with your teacher. See if you agree. 1. Garments made of wool and cotton mixed do not keep their shape as well as all wool. If one can afford only wool and cotton, the salesman should tell one in purchasing about their composition. The mixture should be cheaper. It is often sold for all wool at a higher price. If one untwists the fibers of the material, it is possible to detect cotton. Try at school on some ravelings of garment seams or other materials. The burning test will help one to decide. We shall learn some tests in our next lesson. 2. Remember wool is an expensive fiber. Do not expect to get all wool for little money. 3. Remember the weave affects wearing quality. A close twill weave is often more durable than a basket weave. Do you remember your lessons about silk; how it is grown and made by the little worm, and how it is manufactured or spun into thread or woven into silk cloth? In buying silk one must remember about its manufacture. 1. Silk is seldom pure. It is apt to be weighted. If the silk feels heavy in the hand, it does not always mean that it is a good piece of material and will wear; it may be weighted with tin; up to 30 per cent of tin is not harmful. A softer, pliable silk is not apt to be so weighted, and will wear better. Soft silks so woven as to pull at the seams are not economical. Close weaves are better than loosely woven ones for wearing. 2. Fray some of the threads of the cloth you wish to buy. Is it possible to break either the warp or woof easily? If so, the silk will split along either warp or filling and will not wear.