Foods and household management

For quality, beauty, and variety of patterns, Scotch, French, and Irish linens are the best. German damask is excellent. The unbleached will wear much longer, is less expensive, and is bought by many housewives and bleached as used. Damask by the yard for tablecloths is slightly cheaper. Tablecloths from 2i to 3 yards are good size for a medium family of five or six. One dollar a yard is a fair price for everyday linen. The cloth should about equal 1 dozen napkins in cost, and a cloth will usually wear as long as 1 } to 2 dozen napkins. Napkins come in three sizes, f, 17-22 inches ; f, 23-27 inches ; }, 29-31 inches. 7. For family towels, huckaback is the most serviceable, although damask is used a great deal (see Fig. 78). linen towels vary in price from three dollars a dozen up, according to size and quality. Dish towels of linen crash are very serviceable. 8. Bedding. Sheets can be purchased ready made in linen or cotton in various sizes. If they are to be made at home, buy sheeting that can be obtained for single, two thirds, or full-sized bed. If cotton, buy in bleached or unbleached condition. Purchase sheets which are long enough to fold over at the top and protect the blankets. There are several good brands of cotton sheeting. " Fruit of the Loom " is one of the best known. Tubing for pillow cases may also be bought. It has no seams, and comes in several widths. 9. It is better to purchase a certain amount of new linen annually and gradually supplement that worn than to wait and have all wear out at once. Some things to remember in purchasing silk, 1. That pure silk is seldom manufactured. It is nearly always weighted, and a large proportion of weighting is to be guarded against, as it weakens the wearing quality. Up to 30 per cent is not harmful and helps the silk to take the dye. The fact that it is heavy in the hand does not always mean that it is a good piece of material and will wear well — the weight may be due to artificial ** weighting " and not silk. Choose rather a softer pliable silk. 2. Try the test for strength with the thumb (see '* Shelter and Clothing/' page 199) to see if the warp and woof threads are equally strong, or stronger one way than the other. If the latter, it will not wear well. 3. Fray out the threads. Do they break easily ? If so, the silk is not of good quality. If the warp threads are weak, the silk will split across, if the woof is weak, the silk dress will go in ribbons. 4. If you have time before purchasing, test a sample of silk by burning. Place in a porcelain dish and heat gently for thirty minutes. The silk will vanish and the weighting remain. Burn the threads to see if there is cotton in warp or woof. Burn end of sample. If it is the same shape after burned, it is probably weighted. 5. Close weaves wear better than more loosely woven ones and soft silks better than stiff. Guard against buying soft silks, however, that are so woven as to pull in the seams when worn.