HINTS ON CLEANING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 February 1925, Page 15

HINTS ON CLEANING.

COTTON FROCKS AND FRILLS. After summer holidays nearly every girl returns home with a slightly damaged wardrobe. The pretty Docks and frills are tumbled and soiled, gloves are dirty, and buckles and metallic ribbons look tarnished and dull after sea air and wind, it is a dispirited feeling to be confronted by so ' mucli cleaning and repairing, especially as cotton and silk frocks require “doing up” at- home it they are to retain an air of perpetual youtii. There is nothing so distressing as the sight ot a new frock that lias been carelessly washed — colours are faded, all stiffness has gone from the material, or, worse still,, an energetic laundress has starched, her hardest- and the garment rustles at a touch. Few amateur cleaners realise the value of the common “branbag” for stiffening linens and cottons that are too stiff when starched and too limp when left alone. Linens and voiles can be washed and rewashed in a bran bath and yet retain their first charm to the very end.

For the Bran Bath. —It is as well to wash two or three frocks together, as the same bran bag will “do” for all. Take about four handfuls -of ordinary bran and tie- in a Loose muslin . bag. Put the bag in an enamel bucket or .clean kerosene tin fitted, bucket-fashion, with a handle. Fill the bucket with colcl water and bring “the water to boiling-point. Boil for five minutes -and then empty the bran water into the washing bowl. Add cold water as required, and wash the frocks as usual, with plenty of soap, rinsing the bran water thoroughly through them. Meanwhile put- the. same bran bag on to boil with another fresh bucket of water, and by the tim© the frocks have received their first wash this water will be warm enough to rinse them in. There i.s no need to let this second water come to the boil, as the bran will permeate it quite sufficiently by just- heating in it. Rinse the frocks well in this and squeeze them as dry as possible. Hang them on the line inside out and iron while still slightly damp. If the frocks get too dry they will have to be “sprinkled” and left rolled up for an hour or two before being ironed. When this i.s done, however. the material loses some of its stiffness. This method is excellent for washing muslin or lace curtains. Silk frocks should be washed in warm water with soap powder dissolved previously in the water. The frocks should never be rubbed’, but merely squeezed through the suds until, they are clean, [f the colours in either cotton or silk frocks are not “fast” a tablespoonfu; of vinegar should be added to each water. Needless to say all hocks inclined to “run” should be washed separately. When rinsing silk frocks add a tablespoonful of methylated spirit and a squeeze of bluebag to the last .water, which should be almost cold. This wsU give whiteness and stiffness. Squeeze as dry as possible and roll up in a towel until dry enough to iron. Silk frocks dried out of cloors lose then colour and acquire a limp look. Knitted Goats and Skirts. —Wash us plenty of warm water and soap powcle*. and he careful that each rinsing water is at the. same temperature (as this prevents shrinking). Squeeze out as much water as possible, and then roll in a large bath, towel and squeeze—not wring—as dry as possible. Bin out flat on th© ground on a clean sheet or towel in the open air, weighting the ends of the towel with something neavy to prevent it blowing over. Handknitted frocks should be left like this until practically dry, but machine-made suits can be lilted when still damp and hung on the line on a coat-hanger. This hastens tli’eT^'drying process, which naturally is' somewhat slow. A warm, windy day is the best for washing knitted garments, and they should be ironed under a dry cloth while still slightly damp. “Stocking stick” patterns must be ironed on the right side, and all other designs on the wrong side. Frocks and suits washed this way neither shrink nor get out of shape. Glove Cleaning. White or lightcoloured kid and snpde gloves should he soaked over-night in benzine or petrol, and then well rubbed or rinsed in fresh spirit until clean. A little .French chalk or magnesia ball rubbed into them while still wet will help to whiten and clean them. All gloves should be hung up to dry inside out. This is a point not a ways known by amateurs. H chalk lias been used in the cleaning process brush , the gloves well with a clean cloth or'shake them well in the open air before putting them away. Cotton Sueded Gloves keep their sueded look longer if a little talc powder is lightly- - rubbed into them when tliey are -dry and then shaken out again. Soap and warm water are all that is required for either silk or fabric gloves, but all gloves keep a better shape if they are put op the'band while wet, gently pulled off and hung up to dry still in the shape of the hand. This rule also applies to kid or suede gloves. It is not generally known that- tarnished silver tissue or ribbon can be brightened by being rubbed with powdered alum, or that dull buckles and metallic ornaments can be restored by cleaning them with a thin paste -of whiting and water.