CARING FOR LINEN EMBROIDERIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue XII, 21 March 1896, Page 334

CARING FOR LINEN EMBROIDERIES.

The process of washing and pressing coloured embroideries is verv simple, yet only too frequently are mistakes made through ignorance or carelessness, that are certainly calculated to injure, if not destroy embroideries that with proper care should stand the test of many cleanings. The process of washing must be gotten through with all speed. Have everything ready beforehand, including hot irons. Take any pure laundry soap, make some suds in tepid water, rub the articles lightly and as little as possible, rinse thoroughly in clean water, squeeze the water out at once, place the article on a slightly padded table, facedown, and iron until perfectly dry. No stiffening is required ; ironing the linen while wet will give all the firmness required. Should the embroidery be puckered in the working do not iron at once but stretch it until perfectly smooth by pinning it out on a board. Leave it until dry, then remove the pins, place a wet cloth over it, and iron rapidly until the article is steaming with dampness ; then remove the cloth and finish the pressing on the article itself. Perfect success in cleaning must, perforce, depend greatly on the quality of the washing silks employed in the working, and their right to the claim of being fast colours. There are some so-called washing silks that no amount of care or skill in submitting them to the test of soap and water will prevent from running. I have found those known as the Asiatic dyed silks exceedingly reliable ; in addition to their fast qualities these silks pos-

sess a beautiful satin gloss, very closely resembling in the finished work the effect of the raw silks used by the Chinese in their incomparable embroideries, presenting, as they do, so even and smooth a surface that it is difficult to distinguish where the threads begin and end.