HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 200, 23 August 1919, Page 20

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

A lady correspondent, "One who would like to know,"' inquires if any of the readers of the "Star" can. inform her how to take the shine off a black serge skirt. Polishing Waxed Floors.—An oldfashioned flat-iron padded and covered with a piece of woollen blanket will polish wax floors in a satisfactory manner. First rub them lightly with floor wax. To Restore the Colour.—Spirit* or ammonia, if diluted and applied with a sponge to faded or discoloured spots in a carpet, will often restore them to their natural colour. ■Home-made Toys. —It ie a good plan to teach children to mako their own toys. A little girl will dearly love the rag doll she makes herself. It is si capital idea to buy an empty doll's house and make the children furnish it. The boys can paper the walls and make the furniture, while the girls can lay the carpets, upholster the sofas and chairs, and make the curtains. If no cool, larder or ice box is available, place the butter in a crock or haein and allow this to stand in another basin containing sufficient cold water to reach half way up the butter crock. Cover the top and sides with a wet cloth, the end?, of which should rest in the water in tlic basin to keep it constantly moist. Another nifthod is to dissolve nr ounce of saltpctere in the water in the outer basin. This has the effect of making the water nearly as cold as ice. Yet another method i« to invert a flower pot, which must first be scrubbed quite clean, in a saucer of cold water. Place the butter crock in the saueei and cover it with the flower pot: the latter, being porous, absorbs the watet and keeps the butter cool. Now that flannel dresses are the order of the day the following directions may be welcome. It is always -well before making up any flannel garments to shrink the material first, but people rarely do this when they are making flannel dresses, as they think it makes them look as if they had been washed: but if the following instructions are followed out, the flannel will look like new. Fold the flannel up quite flat and smooth in thick folds, lay it in a bath, and pour boiling water over it. When cool, take lit out, and squeeze the water out —do I not wring it; the best way is to pass i , through a mangle, or get your laundresto do so, still keeping the flannel in th< folds; then place a cloth over it. and iron with a rather hot iron till the. flannel is quite dry. The flannel wil' look perfectly new after this has been done.