LAUNDRY.

Waipa Post, Volume 52, Issue 3705, 10 January 1936, Page 4

LAUNDRY.

PILLOWS AND BOLSTERS. The first and principal thing in washing pillows and bolsters is “good drying weather.” Next, make a muslin, or very thin calico bag, a little larger than the largest pillow to be wished. This bag must be stitched firmly nearly all the way round, but just leaving half of one end open. Next make an opening in one end of the ticking cover of the pillow, just the same size as that left in the bag, and carefully join the open ends of bag and case together. Now the feathers can be worked from the pillow into the bag without any flying about. When this is done, the opening of the bag must be stitched up and the edges of the pillow case detached. The feathers are now ready for the wash tub. Prepare some warm, soapy water (soft water, if possible) in a vessel which is large enough to allow the bag of feathers to be covered with water when they are squeezed and worked about in it. Rinse in several changes of clean, warm water, and after squeezing well, hang the bag of feathers out to dry. This will take days, and they should be shaken and gently beaten several times each day. Meanwhile, the ticking case must be well brushed and shaken, and then washed. When the case is dry it should be turned inside out, laid on a table, and the inside rubbed well with a piece of dry beeswax. This keeps the feathers from coming through the case, and is much better than soap. When both cover and feathers are quite dry the feathers should be returned to the case simply by reversing the method which you used to empty them out. The pillow should now be clean, dr}' and soft. By the way, quite a lot of people use felt overlays for spring mattresses. I strongly recommend you to get washable ones, when the felts are worn out, or buy a piece of sailcloth and make them at home. Mattresses, pillows and bolsters should have loose covers of coarse, unbleached calico to keep the ticking clean —these can be washed once or twice a year, and so keep the bedding nice and fresh.