STORING TABLE LINENS

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 6, 15 December 1950, Page 572

STORING TABLE LINENS

ONE solution is to copy the method used by drapers, who roll instead of fold materials which should not be creased. If there are in the house any cardboard tubes of the type used for posting documents, these will make excellent bases for linen rolls. Others can be made of thin cardboard, newspapers, or large magazine pages rolled to form a smooth tube and secured with rubber bands, fine thread, sticky paper, or gum. The articles to be stored are rolled loosely on the tubes, right side out, and if necessary the end can be fastened with a tiny pin. Preferably only one article or one set (dressing table or table mats) should be put on each roll, though it will save space if several tray cloths or table centres of similar size and shape are rolled together. When the rolls are stacked it is still easy to remove the one required. To make it simple to take a set of place mats from a pile cut sheets of stiff cardboard slightly larger than the mats and slip one between each set. Large cartons and dry-cleaning boxes or suit boxes provide suitable material, and the “dividers” allow the sets lower in the pile to be lifted easily without —NORMA K. METSON, Rural Sociolo

disarranging those above. If drawer or shelf space is inadequate, keep the sets of table mats in a strong cardboard box covered with wallpaper. A more elaborate arrangement is a cloth cover with a cardboard-stiffened base a little larger than the articles it is to contain. Four flaps of material with edges bound or hemmed are made to fold over toward the centre envelope fashion and fastened with tapes or domes. This arrangement will keep small pieces flat and together while protecting them from dust and crushing. Table napkins, neatly folded, are easily stacked, but the piles may grow precarious and topple in a deep drawer or shelf. Cleats 6in. to Bin. long can be attached to the back and front at one end of a deep drawer 4in. below the top to support a light wooden tray or sturdy cardboard box for holding the table napkins. Cleats can also be arranged to hold a full-length tray which can be lifted out when necessary to reach the articles beneath; they also help to make more efficient use of the space in a very deep drawer. gist, Department of Agriculture, Wellington.