Custom

B OOB TUBE gets a new spin Sunday with the debut of a bra-shop show titled "Double Divas. " We're sure you get the "double" entendre . "Our job is to really help women feel wonderful," said Molly Hopkins, co-owner of LiviRae Lingerie in Atlanta. "All you gotta do is bring out the sexy stuff. " What, is the Lifetime Network trying to lure male viewers? Not exactly. This is no "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. " Yes, judging from previews, some shapely knockouts will strut about in undergarments, but viewers will also see much, much bigger sets of challenges.

Peachtree Point Moorestown (609) 235-1950 Finely detailed, custom-built houses, with the accent on custom woodwork, are offered at Peachtree Point in Moorestown. Maines & Simpson Inc. (Steward "Gub" Maines 3d and Paul Simpson) and Robert Maines are building houses that exceed 3,000 square feet of living space and $350,000 in price. Forty houses on two- to five-acre lots are planned for the site, which includes a section of the Rancocas Creek. To date, the largest house is close to 5,000 square feet, and the most expensive cost about $425,000.

Longview Lane, Marlborough Township, Chester County 459-5500. In the midst of the historic Brandywine area of Chester County, custom, single-family houses are under construction at Longview Lane. The 44-acre development is adjacent to, and takes its name from, the renowned Longwood Gardens. The site plan calls for the 23 houses of Longview Lane to be located along one slightly curving lane that ends in a cul-de-sac. Surrounding the site are horse farms, other single houses and about 108 acres of Longwood Gardens, including a bird sanctuary.

Estates at Stone Ridge, Buckingham Township, Bucks County To say that 12 standard designs are offered by DeLuca Enterprises Inc. at the Estates at Stone Ridge is misleading. In fact, calling any home at Stone Ridge "standard" is understatement at the least. Priced well above a half-million dollars each, the homes in this new community are really custom designed - even the "standard" ones are being completely customized to each buyer's needs and desires. For example, the Aspen design proved to be but a starting point for the home of Chanchal Khanna, a pathologist, and her husband, Om, a surgeon.

M ELISSA D'AGOSTINO, 32, of Germantown, uses hand-dyeing techniques to create her artsy women's-wear line. D'Agostino Fashion Textile Design also custom-made Philadelphia first lady Lisa Nutter's formal dress for President Obama's inaugural ball. Q: What's your background? A:I'm a graduate of Moore College of Art & Design. I was formerly a hand-block fabric printer at a textile-and-lighting studio. My textiles started as works of art and wall hangings, and the fabrics evolved into products I could sell.

When Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr. looks for clues, he usually looks under the rug. In his latest case, he examined the rug itself. Such diligent detective work was what helped break The Case of the Tricky Toupe, in which an establishment selling hair replacements called The Hairmakers wasn't, well, making hair. Preate's office said yesterday that The Hairmakers, with stores in Center City and King of Prussia, stated in sales contracts that its hairpieces were "custom-made" when in fact they were stock hairpieces previously manufactured to standard sizes.

Steve Behrle will some day work for his father. Yesterday, he went to work on Malvern Prep's offense. Behrle, a 5-10, 185-pound senior linebacker, collected eight tackles and two sacks and forced a fumble - recovered by lineman Mark Muraglia and converted into the game's final touchdown - as Episcopal Academy, the heavy preseason favorite, muffled the host Friars, 24-0, in an Inter-Ac League opener. Actually, Behrle - it rhymes with Merrill - already works for his father.

Robert A. Hopf, 75, a retired custom-home builder who had a great interest in sports, died Saturday at his home in Jenkintown after a long illness. Mr. Hopf founded Robert A. Hopf Builders in 1950, and built customized houses in the Somerton and Bustleton sections of Philadelphia, Huntingdon Valley in Montgomery County, and Newtown Township and Washington Crossing in Bucks County. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a member of the Jenkintown Zoning Hearing Board. Mr. Hopf was born in New York City and reared in Philadelphia, graduating from Frankford High School in 1940.

As a widely respected foreign correspondent, I recently felt the need to travel to Germany so I could observe firsthand the front lines of this dangerous all-dominating worldwide struggle we have come to know as the Cold War. At least that's what I'm going to tell the Internal Revenue Service. The truth is, I went to Germany because this is the year I turn 40, and I felt the need to be surrounded by the largest possible quantity of beer. They are very good at beer, the Germans, and what is more, they tend to serve it in vessels the size of municipal stadiums.

Guido B. Muscelli, 101, one of the owners and operators of Muscelli Brothers Clothing Manufacturers, in South Philadelphia, for 70 years, died Sunday at Zurbrugg Hospital, Willingboro. Mr. Muscelli died on his birthday and had enjoyed sound health until about a month ago. He had lived in South Jersey for the last 10 years and at the Burlington Woods Convalescent Center, in Burlington Township, for the last five years. Mr. Muscelli was born in Italy, where he learned to sew. He came to the United States at age 16. He entered the country through Ellis Island and settled in the Philadelphia area.

Television distributors are being financially compensated for missed NHL games in this season shortened by labor problems, but hockey fans and other pay-TV subscribers won't see any of it. Neither the NHL nor TV distributors disclosed the financials in what the parties are describing as rebates, citing confidentiality agreements. A Comcast Corp. executive disclosed the existence of the rebates in a conference call with Wall Street analysts last week. Comcast and Verizon Communications Inc., which operates the FiOS service, will follow industry practice and not pass those rebates on to subscribers, say officials with both companies.

Calling SugarHouse Casino "ripe for expansion," the gaming hall's general manager told state regulators Tuesday that a plan to scale back a parking garage while enlarging the gambling floor makes more sense than an earlier proposal. Wendy Hamilton, who has run the waterfront casino on North Delaware Avenue since its 2010 opening, said customers have told her that the casino needs "more elbow room. " "This is a better plan," Hamilton testified in a hearing before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Philadelphia.

John Reece hasn't figured out a way to deliver his latest ice cream creations directly through the Internet, so he relies on Facebook to give his customers a taste. "Beautiful day here in the Philly area," Reece wrote this fall on the page he has created for his Exton and West Chester shops. "Time to enjoy some Scooped Ice Cream. Our new flavors in stock: Pistachio, Mocha Toffee, Pumpkin Pie. " Through the computer screen, Reece has the ability to make customers feel as if they're enjoying a free waffle cone on the front stoop of Scooped, his homemade ice cream, gelato and sorbet business - even before they've left the house.

Pennsylvania legislators are right to be concerned about consumers paying excessive credit-card swipe fees, but the solution to the problem lies not with the merchants who pay the fees, but with the credit-card companies that set them in the first place. A bill under consideration in the state legislature would ban merchants from imposing a surcharge on customers who use credit cards. I'm not sure it's needed. I have not heard of one retailer, merchant, or business owner even considering surcharging.

  K EITH LEAPHART, 38, of Overbrook Farms, is an osteopath-turned-entrepreneur. He owns Replica, a Center City graphic-design, digital-copying, printing and branding firm, acquired in 2009. Q: You're a trained osteopath. Why did you leave medicine? A: I'm a physician by training and entrepreneur by birth. The clinical setting was too limiting for me. I was on the staff of Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital in Malvern for about six years. I gave up my hospital privileges there in July 2011.

PROBABLY 90 percent of the time, Tattle brings you stories about popular-culture celebrities - or no-culture wannabes - but every once in a while, we delve into the fine arts - orchestras, operas, ballet and art. Piquing our curiosity today is a class-action suit against New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art that accuses the Met of scheming to defraud the public into believing that admission fees are required. See, what the Met does at the front of its ticket line is say that adult admission is $25. But, underneath the $25, in smaller type, is the word "recommended.

COMCAST'S "watchathon" week couldn't have come at a better time for those who'd like to catch up with HBO's "Game of Thrones" before Sunday's season premiere. Legally, that is. The first two seasons of the show - the most pirated of 2012, according to TorrentFreak.com, which reported that there were about 4.3 million downloads - are available to the cable company's customers until Sunday (along with a lot of other premium-cable content), whether or not they subscribe to HBO. Look for the show through On Demand under "watchathon" or at Xfinity.com or on the Xfinity Player apps (both of which require a login and password to prove you're a customer)

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Cypriot politicians moved Thursday to restructure the country's most troubled bank as part of a bailout plan that must be in place by Monday to avoid financial ruin. Customers rushed to get cash from ATMs as bank employees protested. Cyprus has been told it must raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) if it is to receive 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) from its fellow eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. If it does not find a way by Monday, the European Central Bank has said it will cut off emergency support to the banks, letting them collapse.

M ELISSA D'AGOSTINO, 32, of Germantown, uses hand-dyeing techniques to create her artsy women's-wear line. D'Agostino Fashion Textile Design also custom-made Philadelphia first lady Lisa Nutter's formal dress for President Obama's inaugural ball. Q: What's your background? A:I'm a graduate of Moore College of Art & Design. I was formerly a hand-block fabric printer at a textile-and-lighting studio. My textiles started as works of art and wall hangings, and the fabrics evolved into products I could sell.

WHAT WOULD a tax season be without confusion and last-minute changes? First up, a lot of H&R Block customers are irate about a snafu that will delay their federal tax refunds by weeks. For days, customers complained on Facebook that they weren't getting a clear explanation as to why their refunds were being delayed. As it turns out, there was a problem with returns that included Form 8863, which is used to claim two higher-education credits - the American Opportunity Tax Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit.