Soak lace for a half-hour in lukewarm suds made with very good white soap, then press it and pat it and lift it up and down in the suds until you think it is clean. Press the water out of it between your hands, and rinse it several times. Then, if it is basted on pieces of muslin, clip the threads on the back of the pieces and with the utmost care separate lace and muslin. Pin the former out on a pillow, using small pins and exercising much patience. Every little point must be fastened down, and pins woven into the straight edges in the direction in which the edges run. Lay the pillow in the sun and do not remove the lace until the next day.
If lace is to be ironed, pad the board beforehand in the way recommended for embroidery. Use a very moderate iron for the lace must slowly and gently be pressed into its original shape.
Everybody who has read "Cranford" remembers with delight that lace may be whitened by soaking it in milk. It may also be made tan-colour by dipping it in coffee or tea. The latter is better because it leaves no odour. A weak solution of gum arabic will stiffen lace when stiffness is desired. Starch is not usually satisfactory.
Water in which fine fabrics are washed must either be soft by nature, or must be made soft with borax.
Chamois gloves can be washed successfully with cold water and good soap. Some people recommend putting a few drops of sweet oil into the water. Wash them until they are clean, soaping and squeezing and rubbing them. Rinse them once. Squeeze them out hard and then gently stretch and press each glove into the shape and size it was when it was new. Hang them up to dry, but not in the sun, or near a heater, or in a place where you may forget them. For at least three or four times while they are drying, they should be again gently rubbed and stretched. Upon the care with which this is done, depend the softness and shape of the gloves. When they are almost entirely dry, put them on your hands, then take them off and again gently stretch them into shape.
Things which may not be washed in water are sometimes cleaned with naphtha or with some kindred fluid. I hardly think this should be done unless one can do it out of doors. It is extremely dangerous work, not only to oneself but to the lives and property of other people.
At least try other methods before such washing is resorted to. More things can be washed in soap and water, if they are washed cleverly, than is generally realized. Articles of delicate colour and texture can often be dry-cleaned with potato flour, powdered French chalk, or powdered magnesia. Rub the flour or powder gently into the fabric, and allow it to remain there several hours. Then shake it out and repeat the process. It is also a good method to put the article to be cleaned into a box, powder it all over with one of these substances and then shut it up for two or three days. Several times each day shake the box well.
Light coloured articles, which may not be wet, such as walls, furniture, rugs, fur, curtains and worsted shawls, may sometimes be improved by rubbing flour and corn meal into them and then shaking and brushing it out again. I am told that white fur can be made clean if it is rubbed with plaster of Paris, shaken, and then rubbed with a damp cloth. I cannot vouch for plaster of Paris, but I can for corn meal and flour, for with it I once successfully cleaned a white kitten.