Order of work.—Mending, sorting the clothes, removing stains, soaking, washing, boiling, rinsing, bluing, starching, drying, sprinkling and rolling, ironing, folding, airing, sorting, and distributing.
Methods.—Mending and removing spots from fabrics are discussed in “Shelter and Clothing.” A few common stains are removed as follows:
Fruit and coffee stains.—Hold the spotted fabric tightly over a bowl and pour boiling water through it. Of course, remove stains at once if possible.
Peach stains are removed by Javelle water. Apply a few drops and pour boiling water through at once.
Cocoa and chocolate stains are helped by borax, and by soap and cold water.
Ink.—Liquid ink removers provided for the library table are convenient. Wet the spot, use 1, dry with a blotter, and use 2, and rinse at once. The same thing is done by wetting, applying an oxalic acid solution first, then Javelle water and rinsing.
Blood stains are removed by soaking in lukewarm water, and washing in a soap solution with a little ammonia and kerosene, or with a naphtha soap.
Sorting.—Separate the fabrics, wool from cotton and so on, and colored cotton from white; also separate body linen from bed linen and from table linen.
Soaking.—This hastens the process since it loosens dirt, and one laboratory experiment seemed to show that soaked clothes are freer from bacteria, than those that are not.
Shrinkable fabrics cannot be soaked. Body and table linen should be soaked separately. The water should be cold, softened with a little ammonia.