THE HOUSEHOLD LINEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 2261, 22 April 1926, Page 2

THE HOUSEHOLD LINEN.

i Even if it is your regular practice I to send all household linen to a laun- ■ dry to be washed, there is one part : of the cleansing process that is best j performed at home. Stains of Avine, coffee, and the like should be removed ! by methods less drustoic than those | sometimes employed in large launj dries; methods, which take their toll of the wearing qualities of linen fabrics. With a little patience and the right treatment even the most obstinate marks can be got rid of quite satisfactorily. Ji) the case of wine stains, hold the article in milk while it is boiling on the fire and the marks will soon disappear. Fresh fruit stains are amenable to plain boiling water treatment; but this should be resorted to at once. Pour the boiling water through them right away. If this is not feasible at the moment, and the stains become more ingrained, rub the part on each side with yellow soap and glycerine, then soak the cloth well in a very weak solution of chloride of lime in hot water. Afterwards soak in ammonia and water to prevent any potential damage to the linen from the preceding bleaching process. To take ironmould out of linen, cover the spots, after wetting them, with salts of lemon, or cream of tartar, and bleach out of doors in the sunshine. If weather conditions make this impossible stretch the linen over a bowl of boiling water and drop a very little muriatic acid on the spot with a fine camel-hair brush; then immediately immerse the article in the hot water in the bowl. Next raise it out of the water and apply a solution of ammonia ; say, a teaspoonful to a cupful of water.

Mildewed linen may be restored by soaping the spots while wet, covering them with fine chalk scraped to a powder and rubing it well in, afterwards bleaching in the sun. When the sun is a minus quantity you will probably find that the treatment may haveto be repeated once or twice. To remove coffee stains from linen, apply a mixture of egg yolk and glycerine while the stains are still fresh, and wash out with warm water, j If the stains are old, treat as above, but afterwards bleach in very weak chloride of lime solution in warm water, and as soon as the marks disappear soak again in ammonia and water to prevent damage to the article; then iron while damp on the reverse side—with a fairly hot iron. Marking ink can. be taken out of linen by using a solution of cyanide of potassium (keep it out of the children's reach!) applied with a camel-hair brush. After the marking ink disappears the linen should be well washed in cold water. Or an alternative method is to dip the linen in chloride of lime solution to turn tho ink white, when it should be dipped, in ammonia for a little while and subsequently washed in cold water.