Put a teaspoonful of sugar of lead into a pailful of water, and soak fifteen minutes before washing.
To Clean a Cloth Coat.
Rub soap upon the wristbands and collar; dip them in boiling-hot suds—and scrub with a stiff clean brush. Treat the grease and dirt spots in the same way. Change the suds for clean and hot as it gets dirty. Wet and brush the whole coat, the right way of the cloth, with fresh suds, when you have scoured out the spots, adding three or four tablespoonfuls of alcohol to the water. Stretch the sleeves, pocket-holes, wristbands, and collar into shape, folding the sleeves as if they had been ironed, also the collar. Lay upon a clean cloth, spread upon the table or floor, and let it get perfectly dry in the shade, turning over three or four times without disturbing the folds.
To Clean Silk.
To Remove Grease Spots.—Scrape Venetian or French chalk fine; moisten to a stiff paste with soap-suds; make it into flat cakes by pressing between two boards, and dry in the sun or oven. Keep these for use. When you need them, scrape one to powder and cover the spot with it, laying the silk upon a fine clean linen or cotton cloth. Lay two or three folds of tissue-paper upon the chalk, and press it with a hot iron for a minute or more, taking care it does not touch the silk. Raise the paper and scrape off the grease with the chalk. Split a visiting-card, and rub the place where the spot was, with the inside, to restore the lustre. The silk should be pressed on the wrong side.
If the spot be discovered at once, simply rub the wrong side hard with powdered French chalk, and leave it to wear off.
To Wash Silk.—Mix together
- 2 cups cold water.
- 1 tablespoonful honey.
- 1 tablespoonful soft soap.
- 1 wineglass alcohol.
Shake up well; lay the silk, a breadth at a time, on a table, and sponge both sides with this, rubbing it well in; shake it about well and up and down in a tub of cold water; flap it as dry as you can, but do not wring it. Hang it by the edges, not the middle, until fit to iron. Iron on the wrong side while it is very damp.
Black and dark or sober-colored silks may be successfully treated in this way.