Before Sending to Cleaners
Before sending out garments to be dyed or cleaned, be sure that they are in good condition. All worn places should be mended carefully and all buttons should be removed. Garments that are ripped should have all cut threads pulled out and be free from dust. Dust silk fabrics with a piece of clean flannel and woolen material with a brush or broom.
REPAIRING
Economical Mending
Fabrics are so much cheaper and so much easier to obtain that patching has almost become one of the lost arts. The twentieth century woman feels that her time is too valuable to be spent in mending the old clothes and that she can better afford to buy new. However that may be, no one disputes the utility of mending. Like so many other duties, mending is half done when well begun. A well made garment of good material should not be discarded when slightly worn, for a patch well put in or a neat piece of darning detracts in no way from the value of a garment and may even be a work of art. The children's clothes particularly should be kept in good order, for they are made uncomfortable by wearing garments that are out of repair, to say nothing of the demoralizing effect upon their characters.
Laundering and Repairs
Laundering is the great ally to tears and not only doubles the size of the hole, but pulls the threads apart so that it is impossible to make the mended place neat and smooth, therefore all clothing should be mended before washing. Stockings and woven underwear are much worn by the rubbing on the washboard and thin places going into the washing frequently come out as holes, so that it is true economy of effort and time to "run" or darn the thin places before they are worn through. It requires much less time and the garments last longer.
It is a good plan, especially in knees of stockings and knitted underwear, to baste a piece of fine net over a worn or broken place and darn over it. (See Darning.) Thread used for darning should be as near as possible the size of the threads in the garment. Darning cotton, linen, wool, and silk of all shades can be bought, so that the problem of matching is no longer a difficult one.
Boys' Trowsers
In mending the knees of boys' trousers a round patch should never be used. The seams should be ripped and the piece set in then, if the seams are pressed well, the patch will scarcely be noticeable.