Washing Light-colored Calicoes. — Take a tablespoonful of alum
and dissolve it in enough lukewarm water to rinse a print dress.
Dip the soiled dress into it, taking care to wet thoroughly every part
of it, and then wring it out. Have warm (not hot) suds all ready and
wash out the dress quickly ; then rinse it in cold water. (White Castile
soap is the best for colored calicoes✪ Washing Light-colored Calicoes if it can be commanded.) Have
the starch ready — but not too hot; rinse the dress in it, wring it out
and hang it out to dry, but not in the sun. Place it where the wind
will strike it rather than the sun. When dry, iron directly. Prints
should never be sprinkled, but if allowed to become rough-dry, they
should be ironed under a damp cloth. It is better to wash them
some day by themselves, when washing and ironing can be done at
once.
To Wash Delicate Muslins. — Put three pints of wheat bran and
a handful of salt into a loose bag, and boil half an hour in six quarts
of soft water✪ To Wash Delicate Muslins. Use this water for washing muslins or lawns with
delicate colors, keeping at hand the bag of bran to use instead of
soap, on any soiled spot that will not yield to slight rubbing. Rinse
the muslin in clear water and dry quickly in the shade. Many colors
in calico goods, which are injured by using the most delicate soap,
can be safely washed if wheat bran ( or, if more convenient, wheat
flour) is boiled and used instead.
When washing cambrics, do not allow soap to come in contact
with the fabric.
To Wash Silk Handkerchiefs. — Wash them in cold rain-water
with a little curd soap ; then rinse them in rain-water — cold — slightly
colored with stone-blue ; wring well, and stretch them out on a mat-
tress, tacking them out tightly. They will look as good as new if
carefully washed.
A teaspoonful of spirits of ammonia✪ To Wash Silk Handkerchiefs added to the rinse-water will
make rusty black goods look as good as new.
THE LAUNDRY.
295
The use of soda or lime in washing clothes is dangerous. They
are certain to rot them in time. Borax is the only safe article.
White Cashmeres may be washed to look like new in cold water
with white soap; rinse in cold water, with a little bluing in the water;
iron damp, and use a moderately warm but not hot iron.
Silk neckties can be washed in rain-water, to one pint of which
add a teaspoonful of white honey and one of hartshorn. Do not
squeeze but let them drip, and when nearly dry press between folds
of cloth.
A FAMOUS washing fluid is made by boiling one pound of sal-soda
with half a pound of unslaked lime in a gallon of water twenty min-
utes. Drain off when cool, and put the liquid in a stone jar. Put a
teacupful in the water✪ A Famous Washing Fluid in which soiled white clothes arc soaked ; well
rinse in warm water, and soap all the seams and solid parts thoroughly ;
then put the clothes in a boiler of cold water, with which a second
cup of the fluid has been incorporated. Let them boil for a few
minutes, and rinse in tepid water. By this method clothes are made
beautifully white with little labor and no detriment, unless they are
very delicate and trimmed with fine lace.
Page 192 · 4 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Washing Light-colored Calicoes. — Take a tablespoonful of alum and dissolve it in enough lukewarm water to rinse a print dress. Dip the soiled dress into it, taking care to wet thoroughly every part of it, and then wring it out. Have warm (not hot) suds all ready and wash out the dress quickly ; then rinse it in cold water. (White Castile soap is the best for colored calicoes if it can be commanded.) Have the starch ready — but not too hot; rinse the dress in it, wring it out and hang it out to dry, but not in the sun. Place it where the wind will strike it rather than the sun. When dry, iron directly. Prints should never be sprinkled, but if allowed to become rough-dry, they should be ironed under a damp cloth. It is better to wash them some day by themselves, when washing and ironing can be done at once.
To Wash Delicate Muslins. — Put three pints of wheat bran and a handful of salt into a loose bag, and boil half an hour in six quarts of soft water. Use this water for washing muslins or lawns with delicate colors, keeping at hand the bag of bran to use instead of soap, on any soiled spot that will not yield to slight rubbing. Rinse the muslin in clear water and dry quickly in the shade. Many colors in calico goods, which are injured by using the most delicate soap, can be safely washed if wheat bran ( or, if more convenient, wheat flour) is boiled and used instead.
When washing cambrics, do not allow soap to come in contact with the fabric.
To Wash Silk Handkerchiefs. — Wash them in cold rain-water with a little curd soap ; then rinse them in rain-water — cold — slightly colored with stone-blue ; wring well, and stretch them out on a mattress, tacking them out tightly. They will look as good as new if carefully washed.
A teaspoonful of spirits of ammonia added to the rinse-water will make rusty black goods look as good as new.
The use of soda or lime in washing clothes is dangerous. They are certain to rot them in time. Borax is the only safe article.
White Cashmeres may be washed to look like new in cold water with white soap; rinse in cold water, with a little bluing in the water; iron damp, and use a moderately warm but not hot iron.
Silk neckties can be washed in rain-water, to one pint of which add a teaspoonful of white honey and one of hartshorn. Do not squeeze but let them drip, and when nearly dry press between folds of cloth.
A FAMOUS washing fluid is made by boiling one pound of sal-soda with half a pound of unslaked lime in a gallon of water twenty minutes. Drain off when cool, and put the liquid in a stone jar. Put a teacupful in the water in which soiled white clothes arc soaked ; well rinse in warm water, and soap all the seams and solid parts thoroughly ; then put the clothes in a boiler of cold water, with which a second cup of the fluid has been incorporated. Let them boil for a few minutes, and rinse in tepid water. By this method clothes are made beautifully white with little labor and no detriment, unless they are very delicate and trimmed with fine lace.
Records on this page
Washing Light-colored CalicoesTo Wash Delicate MuslinsTo Wash Silk HandkerchiefsA Famous Washing Fluid