=Bluing= is used to neutralize the slightly yellowish tint of the fabric, when it cannot be completely bleached.
Ultramarine blue is sold in small b.a.l.l.s and cakes.
Aniline blue is a strong color, and in a very dilute solution gives a pleasing pearly tint to the fabric, especially when the violet tint is used. Mix an ounce of the blue with one gallon water, and bottle for use.
Prussian blue is to be avoided, since it is a salt of iron, and often yellows or spots the clothes. It is usually sold in liquid form. To test, mix the liquid blue with a strong solution of washing soda and heat. If the mixture turns red, and there is a reddish precipitate, the blue is this salt of iron.
=Starch= is used to fill the interstices of fabrics and give a smoothness and stiffness to the cloth that prevents the rumpling of garments. Both wheat and cornstarch are used for laundry purposes when only the natural starches are available, the wheat starch being better for home laundering, as the cornstarch gives a quality that is too stiff and crackling.
Recently, however, the manufacturers have learned to make "thin boiling"
starches from corn and have placed on the market a variety of such modifications of cornstarch for laundry use. Rice starch or "rice water"
is used for very thin muslins.
_To make starch._--For method of making, see starch experiments, Chapter VIII. The starch must be perfectly smooth, and should be stirred while it is boiling for a few minutes, and strained.
_Proportions._
1. For lingerie, 1 teaspoonful of starch to 1 quart water.
2. For medium fabrics, 1-1/2 to 3 tablespoonfuls starch to 1 quart water.
3. For stiff work, 5 tablespoonfuls starch to 1 quart water.
=Ironing.=--The ironing process is the most difficult art in laundering, and requires good tools, practice, and patience. In the summer it is an exhausting labor unless an electric or gas iron is available. Much energy may be saved in hot weather by omitting the ironing of certain articles.
Dish towels, even toilet towels, and soft underwear may be stretched and folded, and are perfectly comfortable to use. Some women who do their own work even fold sheets and pillow cases without ironing.
The smoothing of the fabric is accomplished by heated irons, or by pressing between rollers in a mangle.
_To summarize._--The essential steps in laundering are: the forcing of clear water through the fabric; loosening of the soil and stains by soap and appropriate chemicals, sterilization by boiling temperature, drying and sweetening in the air if possible. The less essential are bluing, starching, and in some cases ironing.
=Laundry equipment.=--We are beginning to realize that a separate room for laundering purposes is an essential in a well-equipped home. Such a laundry will be light and well ventilated, will have washable floors, walls, and ceilings, running water and hot water supply, sanitary tubs and conveniences in the shape of machinery. We shall not have perfect laundries until electric power is available at a fair price. Much is said about electricity on the farm, and the progressive farmer who has his own engine should not fail to use the power for all laundry work. Trolley power should be available, and this use of electricity should be made cooperative when practicable. In a few communities abroad and at home, the power available in a creamery is used for laundering purposes as well.
Where there cannot be a separate laundry, take pains to have the equipment as good as s.p.a.ce will allow.
=The tubs.=--If possible, have three tubs, for this makes for economy of time. Enameled tubs are the most sanitary, and be sure that they are white. You cannot tell whether or not the clothes are clean and blued to the proper tint in a buff-tinted tub, which you may be tempted to buy because it is cheaper.
_Round portable tubs_, to be set upon a bench, should be of galvanized iron, which is sanitary and light. Wooden tubs are things of the past, unsanitary and heavy.
=Equipment for forcing water.=--The rubbing board is the old-time method, yet it wears the fabric and wears out the worker, and should be used as little as possible. If still considered necessary, it should be of gla.s.s set in wood. The wooden board is unsanitary and the metal board may at any moment develop a tiny crack that will tear the fabric.
Fortunately, many women are learning that the washing machine, properly used, is a great economy of fabric, time, and strength. Many machines are on the market, and we need to discriminate and to select the machine constructed to force the water through the fabric without injury to the fabric, and with the smallest amount of muscular energy and that properly exerted without strain. Of course, if machine power is available, the problem is easy. These many washers may be cla.s.sed in four groups. One is a revolving arrangement, sometimes consisting of two corrugated boards set in the center of a tub of clothes, one objection being that the clothes are sometimes torn. Another type has a revolving perforated inner cylinder for the clothes, and an outer one for the soap and water. This is much more expensive. Still a third rocks the clothes in soap and water and is very effective. A fourth type makes use of suction.
The principle of cleansing by pressure and suction is used in several machines and hand washers, and these are, on the whole, inexpensive and practical for home work. The work is accomplished by an inverted cone, pushed down on the clothes, and lifted. Such a washer is seen standing on the floor in Fig. 80. The same figure also shows another of this type standing on the table, and still another to be used in the boiler.
Most of these devices can be used with power.
=The boiler.=--A portable boiler is convenient. It should be made of good quality tin with copper bottom and must be thoroughly washed and dried after using.
=The wringer= is of great a.s.sistance to good work. It should be a good machine having hard rubber rollers, ball-bearing action, and strong springs at the side. It must be cleaned after using, dried, the pressure loosened, and the whole kept covered.
=The drier.=--If clothesline or heavy wire is used, this must be of good quality, and well cared for. The clothesline should be taken in after each using. A revolving drier is convenient, and may even be used in apartment houses. The steam drier has a rack on which clothes are hung, and economizes s.p.a.ce and time.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 80.--Simple laundry equipment for the home. _A.
Fowler, Photographer._]
=Irons.=--The hand iron is heated in several different ways. The old-fashioned iron heated on the stove, and the electric iron are the most satisfactory. In buying hand irons, select those of good weight, for this makes the work easier. Three or four will suffice for ordinary work, and they should weigh from 4 or 5 to 7 pounds. A small pointed iron is necessary for fine work, and for sleeves there is a special, narrow iron.
The irons must be kept clean, and perfectly dry when not in use. Wax tied in a cloth is a good cleaner, and should be at hand during the ironing process. A stand is necessary on which the iron may rest, and paper or cloth on which to rub the iron when it comes from the stove.
Electric irons are proving very satisfactory, and although the first cost is high, they should be used wherever possible.
=The mangle.=--Small mangles, used either cold or heated, are now made for family use, and are great labor savers in flat work. Towels and small flat pieces may even be put through the wringer, while they are still damp, with very good effect.
=The ironing board.=--This should be firm, well padded, and covered with clean cloth. The cover may be made to tie on so that it can be easily changed. Ironing boards should be placed in a good light. Boards may be attached to the wall, and these have firm support. In a small room, the board can be made to turn up.
=Other apparatus.=--A hamper or bag for soiled clothes, a basket for clean, pail and dipper, a clothes stick, a large pan, a small and a large saucepan, a teakettle for boiling water, a knife, wooden spoon, common spoons and measures, a sprinkler or brush for sprinkling clothes, a clotheshorse, clothes hangers for waists and dresses. The soiled clothes bag should be washed weekly, and the hamper should have a removable lining also for weekly washing.
Monday and Tuesday are the traditional days for washing and ironing, but the woman who does her own work, or perhaps has a helper, or one maid, may find it a good plan to do no more on Monday than the mending, removing of stains, and sorting. This gives time to make the house orderly, after Sunday, and to prepare food, some of which may last over the next two days. Some of the clothes may then be soaked overnight.
=Order of work.=--Mending, sorting the clothes, removing stains, soaking, washing, boiling, rinsing, bluing, starching, drying, sprinkling and rolling, ironing, folding, airing, sorting, and distributing.
=Methods.=--Mending and removing spots from fabrics are discussed in "Shelter and Clothing." A few common stains are removed as follows:
_Fruit and coffee stains._--Hold the spotted fabric tightly over a bowl and pour boiling water through it. Of course, remove stains at once if possible.
_Peach stains_ are removed by Javelle water. Apply a few drops and pour boiling water through at once.
_Cocoa and chocolate stains_ are helped by borax, and by soap and cold water.
_Ink._--Liquid ink removers provided for the library table are convenient.
Wet the spot, use 1, dry with a blotter, and use 2, and rinse at once. The same thing is done by wetting, applying an oxalic acid solution first, then Javelle water and rinsing.
_Blood stains_ are removed by soaking in lukewarm water, and washing in a soap solution with a little ammonia and kerosene, or with a naphtha soap.
=Sorting.=--Separate the fabrics, wool from cotton and so on, and colored cotton from white; also separate body linen from bed linen and from table linen.
=Soaking.=--This hastens the process since it loosens dirt, and one laboratory experiment seemed to show that soaked clothes are freer from bacteria, than those that are not.
Shrinkable fabrics cannot be soaked. Body and table linen should be soaked separately. The water should be cold, softened with a little ammonia.
=Washing.=--Wash woolens and silk underwear first, in warm, not hot, soap suds, wring out, rinse, and hang to dry. Use a white, neutral soap. Have the same temperature for both washing and rinsing. Boiling water shrinks wool, and yellows silk. Hand-knit wool, as shawls and jackets, stretch in drying. If dried in a bag or pillow case, this is partly obviated, or lay them on a pad on the table.
Prepare hot water in the tub, with dissolved soap in it, either for handwork or a washer. Wash table linen first, then bed linen and towels, and next the body clothes. Soap the articles well, and rub or use a washer. It is well to wash handkerchiefs by themselves, boiling in a pail for half an hour. If one of the family has a cold or influenza, soak his handkerchiefs in a solution of salt and water and perhaps a little bleaching powder before washing and boiling.
Make fresh suds often. This means heavy labor in the case of portable tubs, but clothes cannot be cleansed in dirty water.
_Colored cotton and linen_ articles may be washed last. They should be put first into salt and water to set the color, washed in tepid water with white soap, rinsed thoroughly and hung in the shade, wrong side out.
=Boiling.=--Boil the washed clothes in soap solution for ten minutes. In case of infectious disease, all the patient"s linen should be boiled an hour,[27] and of course exposed clothing is kept separate through the whole process.