The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness Part 29

TO CLEAN LIGHT KID GLOVES.--Put on one glove, and having made a strong lather with common brown soap, apply it with a shaving brush, wiping it off immediately with a clean towel, then blow into the glove, and leave it to dry.

AN EXCELLENT PASTE FOR GLOVES.--Liquor of ammonia half an ounce, chloride of potash ten ounces, curd soap one pound, water half a pint; dissolve the soap in the water, with a gentle heat, then as the mixture cools, stir in the other ingredients. Use it, by rubbing it over the gloves until the dirt is removed.

TO WASH THREAD LACE.--Rip off the lace, carefully pick out the loose bits of thread, and roll the lace very smoothly and securely round a clean black bottle, previously covered with old white linen, sewed tightly on. Tack each end of the lace with a needle and thread, to keep it smooth; and be careful in wrapping not to crumple or fold in any of the scallops or pearlings. After it is on the bottle, take some of the _best_ sweet oil and with a clean sponge wet the lace thoroughly to the inmost folds. Have ready in a wash-kettle, a strong _cold_ lather of clear water and white Castile soap. Fill the bottle with cold water, to prevent its bursting, cork it well, and stand it upright in the suds, with a string round the neck secured to the ears or handle of the kettle, to prevent its knocking about and breaking while over the fire.

Let it boil in the suds for an hour or more, till the lace is clean and white all through. Drain off the suds, and dry it on the bottle in the sun. When dry, remove the lace from the bottle and roll it round a wide ribbon-block; or lay it in long folds, place it within a sheet of smooth, white, paper, and press it in a large book for a few days.

TO WASH A WHITE LACE VEIL.--Put the veil into a strong lather of white soap and very clear water, and let it simmer slowly for a quarter of an hour. Take it out and squeeze it well, but be sure not to rub it. Rinse it in two cold waters, with a drop or two of liquid blue in the last.

Have ready some very clear and weak gum-arabic water, or some thin starch, or rice-water. Pa.s.s the veil through it, and clear it by clapping. Then stretch it out even, and pin it to dry on a linen cloth, making the edge as straight as possible, opening out all the scallops, and fastening each with pins. When dry, lay a piece of thin muslin smoothly over it, and iron it on the wrong side.

TO WASH A BLACK LACE VEIL.--Mix bullock's gall with sufficient hot water to make it as warm as you can bear your hand in. Then pa.s.s the veil through it. It must be squeezed, and not rubbed. It will be well to perfume the gall with a little musk. Next rinse the veil through two cold waters, tinging the last with indigo. Then dry it. Have ready in a pan some stiffening made by pouring boiling water on a very small piece of glue. Pat the veil into it, squeeze it out, stretch it, and clap it.

Afterwards pin it out to dry on a linen cloth, making it very straight and even, and taking care to open and pin the edge very nicely. When dry, iron it on the wrong side, having laid a linen cloth over the ironing-blanket. Any article of black lace may be washed in this manner.

TO CLEAN WHITE SATIN AND FLOWERED SILKS.--1. Mix sifted stale bread crumbs with powder blue, and rub it thoroughly all over, then shake it well, and dust it with clean, soft cloths. Afterwards, where there are any gold or silver flowers, take a piece of crimson ingrain velvet, rub the flowers with it, which will restore them to their original l.u.s.tre.

2. Pa.s.s them through a solution of fine hard soap, at a hand heat, drawing them through the hand. Rinse in lukewarm water, dry and finish by pinning out. Brush the flossy or bright side with a clean clothes-brush, the way of the nap. Finish them by dipping a sponge into a size, made by boiling isingla.s.s in water, and rub the wrong side.

Rinse out a second time, and brush, and dry near a fire, or in a warm room. Silks may be treated in the same way, but not brushed.

TO CLEAN WHITE SILK.--Dissolve some of the best curd soap in boiling water, and when the solution is as hot as the hand can bear, pa.s.s the silk through it thoroughly, handling it gently, not to injure the texture. If there are any spots, these may be rubbed carefully until they disappear. The article must then be rinsed in lukewarm water.

TO IRON SILK.--Silk cannot be ironed smoothly, so as to press out all the creases, without first sprinkling it with water, and rolling it up tightly in a towel, letting it rest for an hour or two. If the iron is in the least too hot, it will injure the color, and it should first be tried on an old piece of the same silk.

TO WASH SILK.--Half a pint of gin, four ounces of soft soap, and two ounces of honey, well shaken; then rub the silk, with a sponge (wetted with the above mixture), upon a table, and wash through two waters, in which first put two or three spoonfuls of ox gall, which will brighten the colors, and prevent their running. The silks should not be wrung, but well shaken and hung up smoothly to dry, and mangled while damp. The writer has had _green_ silk dresses washed by this receipt, and they have looked as well as new.

TO RENOVATE BLACK SILK.--Slice some uncooked potatoes, pour boiling water on them; when cold sponge the right side of the silk with it, and iron on the wrong.

TO KEEP SILK.--Silk articles should not be kept folded in white paper, as the chloride of lime used in bleaching the paper will probably impair the color of the silk. Brown or blue paper is better--the yellowish smooth India paper is best of all. Silk intended for a dress should not be kept in the house long before it is made up, as lying in the folds will have a tendency to impair its durability by causing it to cut or split, particularly if the silk has been thickened by gum. We knew an instance of a very elegant and costly thread-lace veil being found, on its arrival from France, cut into squares (and therefore destroyed) by being folded over a pasteboard card. A white satin dress should be pinned up in blue paper, with coa.r.s.e brown paper outside, sewed together at the edges.

TO RESTORE VELVET.--When velvet gets plushed from pressure, holding the reverse side over a basin of boiling water will raise the pile, and perhaps it may also succeed in the case of wet from rain.

TO IRON VELVET.--Having ripped the velvet apart, damp each piece separately, and holding it tightly in both hands, stretch it before the fire, the wrong side of the velvet being towards the fire. This will remove the creases, and give the surface of the material a fresh and new appearance. Velvet cannot be ironed on a table, for, when spread out on a hard substance, the iron will not go smoothly over the pile.

TO CLEAN ERMINE AND MINIVAR FUR.--Take a piece of soft flannel, and rub the fur well with it (but remember that the rubbing must be always against the grain); then rub the fur with common flour until clean.

Shake it well, and rub again with the flannel till all the flour is out of it. I have had a Minivar boa for four years. It has never been cleaned with anything but flour, and is not in the least injured by the rubbing. It was a school companion who told me that her aunt (a Russian lady) always cleaned her white furs with flour, and that they looked quite beautiful. It has one advantage--the lining does not require to be taken out, and it only requires a little trouble. Ermine takes longer than Minivar. The latter is very easily done.

TO PERFUME LINEN.--Rose-leaves dried in the shade, or at about four feet from a stove, one pound; cloves, carraway-seeds, and allspice, of each one ounce; pound in a mortar, or grind in a mill; dried salt, a quarter of a pound; mix all these together, and put the compound into little bags.

TO RESTORE SCORCHED LINEN.--Take two onions, peel and slice them, and extract the juice by squeezing or pounding. Then cut up half an ounce of white soap, and two ounces of fuller's earth; mix with them the onion juice, and half a pint of vinegar. Boil this composition well, and spread it, when cool, over the scorched part of the linen, leaving it to dry thereon. Afterwards wash out the linen.

TO WHITEN LINEN THAT HAS TURNED YELLOW.--Cut up a pound of fine white soap into a gallon of milk, and hang it over the fire in a wash-kettle.

When the soap has entirely melted, put in the linen, and boil it half an hour. Then take it out; have ready a lather of soap and warm water; wash the linen in it, and then rinse it through two cold waters, with a very little blue in the last.

TO WASH CHINA c.r.a.pE SCARFS, &c.--If the fabric be good, these articles of dress can be washed as frequently as may be required, and no diminution of their beauty will be discoverable, even when the various shades of green have been employed among other colors in the patterns.

In cleaning them, make a strong lather of boiling water--suffer it to cool; when cold, or nearly so, wash the scarf quickly and thoroughly, dip it immediately in cold hard water, in which a little salt has been thrown (to preserve the colors), rinse, squeeze, and hang it out to dry in the open air; pin it at its extreme edge to the line, so that it may not in any part be folded together; the more rapidly it dries, the clearer it will be.

TO CLEAN EMBROIDERY AND GOLD LACE.--For this purpose no alkaline liquors are to be used; for while they clean the gold, they corrode the silk, and change its color. Soap also alters the shade, and even the species of certain colors. But spirit of wine may be used without any danger of its injuring either color or quality; and, in many cases, proves as effectual for restoring the l.u.s.tre of the gold as the corrosive detergents. But, though spirits of wine is the most innocent material employed for this purpose, it is not in all cases proper. The golden covering may be in some parts worn off; or the base metal with which it has been alloyed may be corroded by the air, so as to leave the particles of the gold disunited; while the silver underneath, tarnished to a yellow hue, may continue a tolerable color to the whole, so it is apparent that the removal of the tarnish would be prejudicial, and make the lace or embroidery less like gold than it was before. It is necessary that care should be taken.

TO REMOVE STAINS OF WINE OR FRUIT FROM TABLE LINEN.--A wine stain may sometimes be removed by rubbing it, while wet, with common salt. It is said, also, that sherry wine poured immediately on a place where port wine has been spilled, will prevent its leaving a stain. A _certain_ way of extracting fruit or wine stains from table-linen is to tie up some cream of tartar in the stained part (so as to form a sort of bag), and then to put the linen into a lather of soap and cold water, and boil it awhile. Then transfer it wet to a lukewarm suds, wash and rinse it well, and dry and iron it. The stains will disappear during the process.

Another way, is to mix, in equal quant.i.ties, soft soap, slackened lime, and pearl-ash. Rub the stain with this preparation, and expose the linen to the sun with the mixture plastered on it. If necessary, repeat the application. As soon as the stain has disappeared, wash out the linen immediately, as it will be injured if the mixture is left in it.

STAIN MIXTURE.--Take an ounce of sal-ammoniac (or hartshorn) and an ounce of salt of tartar--mix them well, put them into a pint of soft water, and bottle it for use, keeping it very tightly corked. Pour a little of this liquid into a saucer, and wash in it those parts of a white article that have been stained with ink, mildew, fruit, or red wine. When the stains have, by this process, been removed, wash the article in the usual manner.

CHEMICAL RENOVATING b.a.l.l.s--for taking out grease, paint, pitch, tar, from silks, stuffs, linen, woolen, carpets, hats, coats, &c., without fading the color or injuring the cloth:-- ounce of fuller's earth, ounce of pipe-clay, 1 ounce salt of tartar, 1 ounce beef gall, 1 ounce spirits of wine. Pound the hard parts and mix the ingredients well together. Wet the stain with cold water, rub it well with this ball, then sponge it with a wet sponge and the stain will disappear.

TO PREVENT COLORED THINGS FROM RUNNING.--Boil pound of soap till nearly dissolved, then add a small piece of alum and boil with it. Wash the things in this lather, but do not soap them. If they require a second water put alum to that also as well as to the rinsing and blue water. This will preserve them.

TO REMOVE STAINS FROM MOURNING DRESSES.--Take a good handful of fig-leaves, and boil them in two quarts of water until reduced to a pint. Squeeze the leaves and put the liquor into a bottle for use. The articles, whether of bombasin, c.r.a.pe, cloth, &c., need only be rubbed with a sponge dipped in the liquor, when the effect will be instantly produced. If any reason exists to prevent the substance from being wetted, then apply French chalk, which will absorb the grease from the finest texture without injury.

TO SHRINK NEW FLANNEL.--New flannel should always be shrunk or washed before it is made up, that it may be cut out more accurately, and that the grease which is used in manufacturing it may be extracted. First, cut off the list along the selvage edges of the whole piece. Then put it into warm (not boiling) water, without soap. Begin at one end of the piece, and rub it with both hands till you come to the other end; this is to get out the grease and the blue with which new white flannel is always tinged. Then do the same through another water. Rinse it through a clean, lukewarm water; wring it lengthways, and stretch it well. In hanging it out on a line do not suspend it in festoons, but spread it along the line straight and lengthways. If dried in festoons, the edges will be in great scollops, making it very difficult to cut out. It must be dried in the sun. When dry let it be stretched even, clapped with the hands, and rolled up tight and smoothly, till wanted.

GUM ARABIC STARCH.--Get two ounces of fine, white gum arabic, and pound it to powder. Next put it into a pitcher, and pour on it a pint or more of boiling water (according to the degree of strength you desire), and then, having covered it, let it set all night. In the morning, pour it carefully from the dregs into a clean bottle, cork it, and keep it for use. A table-spoonful of gum water stirred into a pint of starch that has been made in the usual manner, will give to lawns (either white or printed) a look of newness to which nothing else can restore them after washing. It is also good (much diluted) for thin white muslin and bobinet.

TO WASH WHITE THREAD GLOVES AND STOCKINGS.--These articles are so delicate as to require great care in washing, and they must not on any account be rubbed. Make a lather of white soap and _cold_ water, and put it into a saucepan. Soap the gloves or stockings well, put them in, and set the saucepan over the fire. When they have come to a hard boil, take them off, and when cool enough for your hand, squeeze them in the water.

Having prepared a fresh cold lather, boil them again in that. Then take the pan off the fire, and squeeze them well again, after which they can be stretched, dried, and then ironed on the wrong side.

TO CLEAN SILK STOCKINGS.--First wash the stockings in the usual manner, to take out the rough dirt. After rinsing them in clean water, wash them well in a fresh soap liquor. Then make a third soap liquor, which color with a little stone-blue; then wash the stockings once more, take them out, wring them, and particularly dry them. Now stove them with brimstone, and draw on a wooden leg two stockings, one upon the other, observing that the two fronts or outsides are face to face. Polish with a gla.s.s bottle. The two first liquors should be only lukewarm, but the third as hot as you can bear your hand in. Blondes and gauzes may be whitened in the same manner, but there should be a little gum put in the last liquor before they are stoved.

TO TAKE OUT MILDEW FROM CLOTHES.--Mix some soft soap with powdered starch, half as much salt, and the juice of a lemon, lay it on the part with a brush, let it be exposed in the air day and night, until the stain disappears. Iron-moulds may be removed by the salt of lemons. Many stains in linen may be taken out by dipping linen in sour b.u.t.termilk, and then drying it in the sun; afterwards wash it in cold water several times. Stains caused by acids may be removed by tying some pearlash up in the stained part; sc.r.a.pe some soap in cold, soft water, and boil the linen till the stain is out.

BLEACHING STRAW.--Straw is bleached, and straw bonnets cleaned, by putting them into a cask into which a few brimstone matches are placed lighted. The fumes of the sulphur have the effect of destroying the color, or whitening the straw. The same effect may be produced by dipping the straw into the chloride of lime dissolved in water.

TO WASH MOUSELINE-DE-LAINE.--Boil a pound of rice in five quarts of water, and, when cool enough, wash in this, using the rice for soap.

Have another quant.i.ty ready, but strain the rice from this and use it with warm water, keeping the rice strained off for a third washing which, at the same time, stiffens and also brightens the colors.

TO BLEACH A FADED DRESS.--Wash the dress in hot suds, and boil it until the color appears to be gone; then rinse it and dry it in the sun.

Should it not be rendered white by these means, lay the dress in the open air, and bleach it for several days. If still not quite white, repeat the boiling.

INDELIBLE MARKING INK, WITHOUT PREPARATION.--1 drachms nitrate of silver (lunar caustic), 1 ounce distilled water, ounce strong mucilage of gum arabic, drachm liquid ammonia; mix the above in a clean gla.s.s bottle, cork tightly, and keep in a dark place till dissolved, and ever afterwards. Directions for use:--Shake the bottle, then dip a clean quill pen in the ink, and write or draw what you require on the article; immediately hold it close to the fire, (without scorching) or pa.s.s a hot iron over it, and it will become a deep and indelible black, indestructible by either time or acids of any description.

MIXTURE FOR REMOVING INK STAINS AND IRON-MOULDS.--Cream of tartar and salts of sorrel, one ounce each; mix well, and keep in a stoppered bottle.

TO WASH HAIR-BRUSHES.--Never use soap. Take a piece of soda, dissolve it in warm water, stand the brush in it, taking care that the water only covers the bristles; it will almost immediately become white and clean; stand it to dry in the open air with the bristles downwards, and it will be found to be as firm as a new brush.

TO CLEAN HEAD AND CLOTHES-BRUSHES.--Put a table-spoonful of pearl-ash into a pint of boiling water. Having fastened a bit of sponge to the end of a stick, dip it into the solution, and wash the brush with it; carefully going in among the bristles. Next pour over it some clean hot water, and let it lie a little while. Then drain it, wipe it with a cloth, and dry it before the fire.

Lola Montez in her "Arts of Beauty" gives the following receipts for complexion, hair, &c:--

FOR THE COMPLEXION.--"Infuse wheat-bran, well sifted, for four hours in white wine vinegar, add to it five yolks of eggs and two grains of ambergris, and distill the whole. It should be carefully corked for twelve or fifteen days, when it will be fit for use.

"Distill two handfuls of jessamine flowers in a quart of rose-water and a quart of orange-water. Strain through porous paper, and add a scruple of musk and a scruple of ambergris."

TO GIVE ELASTICITY OF FORM.--

"Fat of the stag or deer 8 oz.

Florence oil (or olive oil) 6 oz.

Virgin wax 3 oz.

Musk 1 grain.

White brandy pint.

Rose-water 4 oz.

"Put the fat, oil, and wax into a well glazed earthen vessel, and let them simmer over a slow fire until they are a.s.similated; then pour in the other ingredients, and let the whole gradually cool, when it will be fit for use. There is no doubt but that this mixture, frequently and thoroughly rubbed upon the body on going to bed, will impart a remarkable degree of elasticity to the muscles. In the morning, after this preparation has been used, the body should be thoroughly wiped with a sponge, dampened with cold water."