Starch, A Household Friend

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 11, 14 January 1936, Page 11

Starch, A Household Friend

For paperhanging, thin starch made with boiling water is cleaner and better than flour-and-water paste. Smoke marks on ceilings may be removed by the application of cold water starch. This should be made fairly thick, and brushed well over the blackened surface and beyond its edges. When the starch has dried thoroughly it should bo carefully rubbed over with a soft cloth. A mixture of white starch and soft soap in equal quantities, with half the quantity of lemon juice and cooking salt, is good for removing mildew from white articles. The paste should be spread thickly over the marks and left on for several hours, out of doors if possible, before it is washed off. Coats, skirts, or trousers of light grey flannel, if slightly soiled, may be dry cleaned with powdered starch. The powder should be sprinkled evenly over the garments and gently rubbed into the cloth -with a piece of clean flannel. They should then be folded up and left for a few days. All traces of powder should then be carefully shaken out and the clothes should be given a good brushing. When fine needlework is being done in hot weather it is liable to become soiled by contact with warm hands. To prevent this the hands should be rubbed over occasionally with powdered starch.