Boil two quarts of wheat-bran in six quarts, or more, of water, half an hour. Strain through a coarse towel and mix in the water in which the muslin is to be washed. Use no soap, if you can help it, and no starch. Rinse lightly in fair water. This preparation both cleanses and stiffens the lawn. If you can conveniently, take out all the gathers. The skirt should always be ripped from the waist.
To Wash Woolens.
Wash in clean, hot soap suds; rinse out in clear, hot water, and shake out the wet without passing through the wringer. Worsted dress-goods should never be wrung when washed.
To Wash White Lace Edging.
Have a quart bottle covered with linen, stitched smoothly to fit the shape. Begin at the bottom and wind the lace about it, basting fast at both edges, even the minutest point, to the linen. Wash on the bottle, soaping it well, rinse by plunging in a pail of fair water, and boil as you would a white handkerchief, bottle and all. Set in the hot sun to dry. When quite dry, clip the basting-threads, and use the lace without ironing. If neatly basted on, it will look nearly as well as new—if not quite.
Black Lace.
- ½ cup rain water, or very soft spring water.
- 1 teaspoonful borax.
- 1 tablespoonful spirits of wine.
Squeeze the tumbled rusty lace through this four times, then rinse in a cup of hot water in which a black kid glove has been boiled. Pull out the edges of the lace until almost dry; then press for two days between the leaves of a heavy book.
To Sponge Black Worsted Dresses.
Sponge on the right side with a strong tea made of fig leaves, and iron on the wrong.