HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18629, 26 July 1930, Page 15

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Cold tea as a renovating agent for those curtains that are showing signs of wear needs to be tried to be appreciated. That it entails no additional cost is another point in its favour. First wash your curtains in the usual way. Then take several brewings of stale tea and strain through a fine sieve or piece of old muslin. Add the tea-water to the starch spoonful by spoonful until the desired shade is attained. Now stir well for a minute and set aside for a quarter of an hour, after which the curtains should me immersed in the solution for ten to fifteen minutes. This will give them a pretty ecru shade, hide numerous minor faults* and, due to tannin in the tea, the cotton in the curtains is almost doubled in strength. When the dyeing has proceeded to the shade you wish, wring out the curtains and hang immediately in the open air, preferably in the way of a gentle breeze. If this is done the curtains will take on a lasting ecru tint. If the curtains are of lace they may be “got up” almost like new by ironing well to the width. This causes the design to show up clear and attractive. If, on the other hand, the face has a raised pattern, a thick blanket or piece of felt should be slipped under the ironing sheet and the lace be ironed over it. This will cause the raised pattern to stand out in bold relief and create a professional touch in the curtains once they are rehung. Solid silver can be quickly cleaned if boiled in a solution of baking soda in an aluminium pan. An electrolytic action takes place, which causes the tarnish to be thrown from the metal, Which itself is not injured. When making a sponge-cake which requires much beating, beat the eggs a little, put in the sugar and stand the bowl containing the eggs and sugar in a dish partly filled with boiling water while you beat eggs and sugar together. The heat of the water melts the sugar and make the beating easier. If the rubberised shower curtains in the bathroom get mildewed, treat the spots with sour milk or lemon juice, then lay them on a flat surface and wash with a soft cloth. Mildew can be prevented by spreading them out and allowing them to dry before pushing back on the road. Straw matting can be most successfully cleaned if rubbed with the half of a lemon, then washed in warm, clear water.

Glazed tiles, if rubbed over with lemon juice, then allowed to dry before being finally polished with a piece of old velvet, will look as fresh as new.

Benares brass can be cleaned by being rubbed with a slice of lemon, then washed in hot soapy water and polished with a soft cloth.

Lemon juice will remove the marks or iron mould from linen if the stain is soaked in the juice, sprinkled with salt, then placed in the sun until dry, afterward being washed in the usual way. When making a cake with dripping instead of butter, add the juice of half a lemon, and a delightful, rich flavour will be the result. Lemon juice sprinkled over a green salad will add a piquant flavour to the dish. Stewed rhubarb is greatly improved if lemon juice is added before the fruit is quite cold. The juice of a lemon will remove a fish bone than has stuck in the throat. A SIMPLE WAY OF QUILTING. The best materials to use for quilting are good sateen, satin, or silk, and cot-ton-wool for the interlining. Lay the material to be quilted face downwards on the table, and over it put the layer of cotton-wool, covered with a piece of thin muslin on which you have drawn or ironed off the design. The reason for marking the design on the muslin is that you can then stitch it on the wrong side, and no lines or markings of the pattern will show on the right side between the stitches. Tack all three layers neatly together, round the edges, diagonally, and crossways. Now start the quilting! following the design with small running stitches, and pulling the thread just the least bit tighter than the material. A cot cover might be made in two sections, back and front being quilted in different patterns when the added thickness of the double padding will make the quilt very warm.