SPRING IS HERE!

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 63, Issue 2, 15 August 1941, Page 169

SPRING IS HERE!

So Spruce Up Your Wardrobe

SPRING is here, spring is here! Well, perhaps not for keeps just yet awhile, but it won’t be long before it is really mild enough to sally forth once again in costumes and new spring suits. • New spring suits, did I say? Well, perhaps you, like me, feel that your spring suit this year won’t be a new one, but don’t despairthere’s a lot to be said for celaning carefully those clothes which you have. Here’s how. Your costume will, of course, be the first on the cleaning list. Costumes are invaluable, always. Is yours one of the navy serge type, which has gone shiny in patches? So annoying, isn’t it, when it looks like new except for one or two shiny spots? But don’t despairhere’s how you. can , remove the shine. Dissolve a little powered alum in water in the proportion of one part of alum to 16 parts of water. Sponge the shiny parts with this preparation. Now press the garment all over with a damp cloth and very hot iron, and finish with a good brush with a stiff clothes brush, making sure that you brush the material up, and not down. If the shiny patch is very bad, you can try rubbing it gently with the finest grade of emery paper, being careful to rub only the way of the pile, and very gently too. Now to your coat. Rub it all over with a cloth dampened in a solution of ammonia and water, and then press with a damp cloth and hot iron. Perhaps it has a fur collar .which needs a little attention. Hot bran will do the trick. Place dry..: bran into two pans, and thoroughly heat them in the oven. Rub a handful of the hot bran into the fur, and ’gently shake out again. Repeat this until ; the portion of the fur is quite clean? The secret, of success in using bran is to make sure it is kept as hot as you can, handle it. Leave one pan in the oven while you are using the other, and change them frequently. Be careful to spread plenty of newspaper around before you begin, for bran is, very light and is easily scattered. Did you have, one of those white macintoshes that were so popular last winter? It looked so fresh when it was new, but now it is a little grubby, and you are wondering perhaps whether it will see you through a second winter. Moisten an ounce of fuller’s earth with a tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine, then mix in half an ounce of salts of tartar, and one ounce of potash. Mix the whole into a stiff paste with a little soft soap. Apply this mix-

ture to the macintosh with a piece of flannel, rubbing until it lathers, and then sponge it off. Now your gloves. If they are suede, you should send them to the cleaners, but kid or leather gloves can be cleaned easily at home. Make a good soapy lather, with warm water, spread the gloves on a board, and rub them carefully with, a piece of flannel moistened in the lather. Be careful not to ■ get them really wet, and dry them in the sun. Petrol, . too, can be used. Rub the fingers with a piece of flannel dipped in petrol. When all the fingers are clean put the gloves on a plate, pour a little petrol over them, and rub gently. Finally, dip the gloves completely in petrol to rinse them of any dirt. Now rub the gloves well with a dry cloth, for if any of the petrol stays on it may discolour them slightly. Dry outside, in the shade, to get rid of the odour. And remember when

you are using petrol never .to- go near an open flameit is very .much safer to do it out-of-doors. . Lastly, we come, to your felt hat. Here, we use petrol again, and plenty of it, rubbing the hat carefully all over, and particularly in any worn spots, with a piece of flannel soaked in petrol. If you want to clean a white or light coloured felt hat before putting it aside for the winter prepare a paste of magnesia and cold water. Apply to the hat with a brush, and allow to become thoroughly dry. Now brush the magnesia away gently, and your hat will be like new again. So you see, with careful cleaning, you will perhaps be able to get quite a lot of wear out of your last season’s wardrobe. ' > ■ ■

Make Your Brushes Last Longer

A LITTLE extra care, and most of our brushes would last double their usual time— important point these days. Shaving brushes, for instance, should always be hung head down after using, and this is easily arranged by looping a cord round the handle and hanging the brush. from a hook. New brooms and brushes will wear better if, before using them at all, they are soaked overnight and then dried thoroughly the following day. . Remove fluff from brooms in the following manner:Drive, two stakes into the ground, a few feet apart, and stretch a strip of netting tightly between them. Rub the brooms across this, and they will be freed from any fluff or cottons. To harden small brushes, soak them in strong salty water— excellent pick-me-up for soft toothbrushes and nailbrushes. Hair brushes, too, benefit by salt, only in.this case a teaspoon of iodised salt should be sprinkled on the bristles, left 24 hours, and then shaken off, and the bristles warmed. Always wash hairbrushes in ammonia and water, as rubbing with ordinary soap damages the bristles. Incidentally, care should be taken when packing hairbrushes, as it is then that the bristles are often broken and damaged by careless handling. A special celluloid guard' slipped round the bristles will keep them in place, but strips of cardboard are a good substitute if no guards are available. —“L. J. S.” Marton.