How to Launder Washable Curtains.
There are many inexpensive cotton or cotton and silk fabrics used for curtains which launder very well if treated properly. Shake out all the dust. Make weak suds with white castile soap. Wash the curtains in this, and rinse them in two waters; then wring dry. Next dip them in a preparation made as follows: Soak half an ounce of isinglass in one quart of cold water for an hour or more. Steep one ounce of saffron on the fire in two quarts of hot water for two hours. Stir the soaked isinglass and half an ounce of alum into this, and then strain into a bowl. Put one fourth of this mixture into another large bowl, and dip one curtain into it, sopping it well, that the color and stiffening may be equally distributed. Shake out and hang on the line to dry.
When the curtains are dry, sprinkle them, making them very damp. Draw out evenly; then fold, and roll up in a cloth; finally iron them, being careful to move the iron lengthwise of the curtain, and to get the fabric very dry.
The alum and saffron may be omitted, and the stiffening be used for washable dresses or thin muslin curtains.