Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2016

1810 washed, may be refreshed by being soaked during twenty-four hours in soft, clear water, clearness in the water being indispensable. If dirty the black dress may be previously washed. When very old and rusty, a pint of gin or whisky should be mixed with each gallon of water. This addition is an improvement under any circumstances, whether the silk be previously washed or not. After soaking, the dress should be hung up to drain dry without being wrung. The mode of washing silks is this:—The article should be laid upon a clean smooth table. A flannel just wetted with lukewarm water should be well soaped, and the surface of the silk rubbed one way with it, care being taken that this rubbing is quite even. When the dirt has disappeared, the soap must be washed off with a sponge and plenty of cold water, of which the sponge must be made to imbibe as much as possible. As soon as one side is finished, the other must be washed precisely in the same manner. Let it be understood that not more of either surface must be done at a time than can be spread perfectly flat upon the table, and the hand can conveniently reach; likewise the soap must be quite sponged off one portion before the soaped flannel is applied to another portion. Silks, when washed, should always be dried in the shade, on a linen-horse, and alone. If black or dark blue, they will be improved if they are placed on a table when dry, and well sponged with gin or whisky, and again dried. Either of these spirits alone will remove, without washing, the dirt and grease from a black necktie or handkerchief of the same colour, which will be so renovated by the application as to appear almost new.

Pin the breadths on a soft blanket; then take some stale bread-crumbs, and mix with them a little powder-blue. Rub this thoroughly and carefully over the whole surface with the hand or a piece of clean linen; shake it off and wipe with soft cloths. Satin may be brushed the way of the nap with a clean, soft hair-brush.

Macerate 2 ozs. of blue galls, bruised; ½ an oz. each of logwood, sulphate of iron, sumach, and 1 pint of vinegar, in a close vessel with heat for twenty-four hours; strain off the clear liquid, add the galls, and shake twice a day for a week. Keep in a corked bottle, and apply with a brush or sponge. This is improved by the addition of a little sugar and gum.

Boil a pint of vinegar, 2 ozs of fuller's-earth, 1 oz. of dried fowl's dung, an oz. of soap and the juice of 2 large onions together to the consistency of paste; spread the composition thickly over the damaged part, and if the threads be not actually consumed, after it has been allowed to dry on, and the place has subsequently been washed once or twice, every trace of scorching will disappear.