The salt will keep the colours from running. Then rinse it through two cold waters; putting a table-spoonful of vinegar into each, before the dress goes in. This will brighten the colours. Immediately, wring out the dress, and hang it up to dry; but not in the sun. When nearly dry, (so as to be just damp enough to iron,) have irons ready heated; bring in the dress; stretch it well, and iron it on the wrong side. If allowed to become _quite_ dry on the line, and then sprinkled and rolled up, and laid aside to be ironed next day, the colours may run from remaining damp all night.
An imported chintz, a gingham, or a mousseline de laine, may be washed in the above manner; which _we know_ to be excellent; subst.i.tuting, for the salt, a table-spoonful of ox-gall in each water. All sorts of coloured dresses should be washed and ironed as quickly as possible, when once begun. It is well to allot a day purposely to coloured dresses, rather than to do them with all the other things on the regular washing-day. If washed in half-dirty suds, and left soaking in the rinsing-water, the colours will _most a.s.suredly_ run and fade, and the dress look dingy all over.
Of course, nothing that has any colour about it should be either scalded, or boiled, or washed in _hot_ water. Scalding, boiling, and hot-water washing are only for things _entirely_ white.
PRESERVING THE COLOURS OF DRESSES.--Before washing a new dress, try a small piece of the material, and see if the colours are likely to stand of themselves. They are generally fast, if the article is so well printed that the wrong side is difficult to distinguish from the right.
If you obtain from the store a small slip for testing the durability of the colours, give it a fair trial, by washing it through two warm waters with soap, and then rinsing it through two cold waters. No colours whatever will stand, if washed in _hot_ water. Some colours, (very bright pinks and light greens particularly,) though they may bear washing perfectly well, will change as soon as a warm iron is applied to them; the pink turning purplish, and the green bluish.
The colours of merinoes, mousselines de laine, ginghams, chintzes, printed lawns, &c., may be preserved in washing by mixing a table-spoonful of ox-gall in the first and second waters, (which should not be more than lukewarm,) and making a lather of the soap and water _before_ you put in the dress, instead of rubbing the soap on it afterwards. At the last, to brighten the colours, stir into the second rinsing-water a _small_ tea-spoonful of oil of vitriol, if the dress is that of a grown person; for a child"s dress, half a tea-spoonful will suffice. If washed at home, one of the ladies of the family should herself put in the vitriol, as, if left to the servants, they may injure the dress by carelessly putting in too much. Vitriol is excellent for preserving light or delicate colours.
The colours of a common calico or mousseline de laine may be set by putting into each of the two warm waters a large handful of salt, and into each rinsing water a tea-spoonful of vinegar.
No coloured articles should be allowed to remain in the water, as soaking will cause the colours to run in streaks. As soon as the dress is washed and rinsed, let it be immediately wrung out, hung in the shade, and, as soon as dry enough, taken in and ironed at once. Each dress should be washed separately. The washing of dresses should only be undertaken in fine weather.
PUTTING AWAY WOOLLENS.--The introduction of furnaces, for the purpose of warming houses, is supposed to be one cause of the great increase of moths, c.o.c.kroaches, and other insects that now, more than ever, infest our dwellings. For moths, particularly, the usual remedies of camphor, tobacco, pepper, cedar-shavings, &c., seem no longer sufficiently powerful; perhaps because their odour so soon evaporates. Still it is well to try them when nothing better can be done; and they are sometimes successful. Camphor and tobacco-shreds will be found much more efficacious if (after interspersing them among the furs or woollens) each fur or woollen article is carefully and closely pinned up in newspapers; so closely as to leave no aperture or opening, however small. The printing-ink has a tendency to keep off moths and other small insects. The papers used for this purpose should be those that are printed with ink of a good quality, not liable to rub off, and soil the things enclosed. We highly recommend this mode of preserving furs and woollens.
But the following method of putting away all the woollen, worsted, and fur articles of the house, will be found an _infallible_ preservative against moths; and the cost is trifling, in comparison with the security it affords of finding the things in good order when opened for use on the return of cold weather. Procure at a distiller"s, or elsewhere, a tight empty hogshead that has held whisky. Have it well cleaned, (_without washing_,) and see that it is quite dry. Let it be placed in some part of the house that is little used in the summer, where there is no damp, and where it can be shut up in entire darkness.
After the carpets have been taken up, and well shaken and beaten, and the grease spots all removed, let them be folded and packed closely down in the cask, which can be reached by means of a step-ladder. Put in, also, the blankets; having first washed all that were not clean; also the woollen table-covers. If you have worsted or cloth curtains and cushion-covers, pack them in likewise, after they have been thoroughly freed from dust. Also, flannels, merinos, cloaks, coats, furs, and, in short, every thing that is liable to be attacked by the moths. It is well to rip the cloaks from the collars, and the skirts of pelisses from the bodies, before packing, as they can be folded more smoothly, and so as to occupy less s.p.a.ce. Fold and pack all the articles closely, and arrange them to advantage, so as to fit in well, and fill up all hollows and vacancies evenly. If well-packed, one hogshead will generally hold all the woollen and fur articles belonging to a house of moderate size, and to a moderate-sized family. But if _one_ is not enough, it is easy to get another. When the cask is filled, nail the head on tightly, and let the whole remain undisturbed till the warm weather is over. If the house is shut up, and the family out of town in the summer, you may safely leave your woollens, &c., put away in this manner. Choose a clear, dry day for unpacking them in the autumn; and, when open, expose them all separately to the air, till the odour of the whisky is gone off. If they have been put away clean, and free from dust, it will be found that the whisky-atmosphere has brightened their colours. As soon as the things are all out of the cask, head it up again _immediately_, and keep it for the same use next summer. If more convenient, you may have the cask sawed in two before you pack it. In this case, you must get an extra head for one of the halves.
In putting away woollens for the season, always keep out a blanket for each bed, and some flannel for each member of the family, in case of occasional cold days, or easterly rains in the summer.
Have no _hair_ trunks about the house; they always produce moths.
TO CLEAN WHITE FUR.--Take a sufficiency of dry starch, very finely powdered, and sift it, through a fine sieve, into a broad, clean, tin pan. Set the pan near enough the fire for the powdered starch to get warm, stirring it frequently. Then roll and tumble about the white fur among the powdered starch, till it is well saturated. Shut it up closely in a bandbox, and let it remain unopened for a fortnight. It will then look clean.
When you put away white fur in the spring, proceed as above, (using a very large quant.i.ty of the pulverized starch,) and put into the box some lumps of camphor tied up in thin white papers. Keep the box closely shut through the summer, and do not open it to look at the fur till you want it for cold weather. It will then be found a good clean white.
In joining pieces of fur or swans-down, lay the two edges together, and pa.s.s the needle and thread back and forward on the wrong side, (in the way that carpet-seams are sewed,) so as to unite the edges evenly and flat without making a ridge. Then line every seam by sewing or running strong tape along it, of course on the wrong side. Unless they are strengthened in this manner with tape, the st.i.tches are liable, after a while, to give way, and the seams or joins to gape open, making rents inside that are very difficult to repair.
TO KEEP A m.u.f.f. Always when returning a m.u.f.f to its box, give it several hard twirls round. This will smooth the fur, and make all the hairs lie the same way. To prevent the wadding inside the m.u.f.f from sinking downwards, and falling into clods, keep the m.u.f.f-box always lying on the side, instead of standing it upright. When you put it away till next winter, place within it some lumps of camphor wrapped in papers, and sprinkle the outside of the fur with powdered camphor. Then enclose the m.u.f.f, completely, in one or two large newspapers, sewing or pinning them entirely over it, sides and ends, so that nothing can possibly get in.
Do the same with all your furs; and after putting them away with these precautions, open them no more till the return of cold weather. The printing ink on the papers will a.s.sist in keeping out moths.
TAKING CARE OF PICTURES.--An excellent way to preserve an oil-picture from the injuries of damp, mould, and mildew, is to take the precaution of covering the _back_ of the canvas (before nailing it on the straining frame) with a coating of common white lead paint; and when that is dry, give it a second coat. If you buy a picture that has been framed without this precaution, do not neglect having the back of it coated as above, before you hang it up.
The simplest way of cleaning an oil-picture, is to mix some whisky and water _very weak_. If the mixture is too strong of the liquid, it may take off the paint, or otherwise injure it. Dip into the mixture a very soft and very clean sponge, which you must first ascertain to be perfectly free from sand, grit, or any extraneous object. A good way to soften and clean a sponge, is to boil it in several successive waters, till there is no longer any appearance of sand at the bottom of the vessel. Having carefully washed the picture with the sponge and whisky-water, dry it by going over it with a clean soft _silk_ handkerchief. This is all that can be safely attempted by any one who is not a regular picture cleaner. Therefore, if the picture is smoked or much soiled, it is best to send it to a person who makes picture-cleaning his profession. Many a good picture has been destroyed by injudicious cleaning.
Till it has been made _perfectly clean_, no picture should be re-varnished; otherwise the fresh varnish will work up the dirt, and make it look worse than ever. As long as a picture is the least wet (either with paint or varnish) it should be carefully guarded from dust; the smallest particles of which by drying into the surface will injure it irreparably. No sweeping or dusting should be permitted where there is a picture not _perfectly and thoroughly_ dry. If there is a fire in the room it should not be stirred, replenished, or touched in any way till the picture has been previously carried out, lest some of the flying ashes might stick to it.
When a picture is finished, it would always be well for the artist to inscribe on the back of the canvas the subject of the painting, the date of its completion, his own name and that of the person for whom it was painted. In short, a concise history of the picture, arranged somewhat like the t.i.tle-page of a book. Had this excellent practice always prevailed, there would be no occasion for any doubts and controversies concerning the works of the old masters.
A PORTRAIT PAINTER"S TRAVELLING BOX.--The large wooden box for the easel and other things indispensable to a portrait painter, when travelling professionally, should be made broad, low, and square, so that it may be used as a platform on which to place the chair of the sitter. When unpacked of its contents, and appropriated to this purpose, the box must be turned bottom upwards, and concealed under a cover of carpeting or drugget brought along with it. The cover should fit smoothly and closely, and be so made that it can be lifted off, and folded up, whenever the platform is again to be used as a box.
TRAVELLING BOXES.--As bandboxes are no longer visible among the baggage-articles of _ladies_, the usual way of carrying bonnets, caps, muslins, &c., is in tall square wooden boxes, covered with black canvas or leather, edged with strips of iron and bra.s.s nails, and furnished with a tray for small things. They are usually lined with paper or calico pasted all over the inside. This lining, however, is apt to peel off in places where most rubbed; and is then very troublesome; catching the corners of the tray so as to prevent its being lifted out. To obviate this inconvenience, when you bespeak the box, direct that the inside, instead of being lined with pasted paper or calico, shall be planed smooth, and either stained of some colour, or left the natural tint of the wood. It is best that the tray should have a _close_ bottom of strong linen. When there are only strips nailed across, (like open lattice-work,) the small articles laid upon them are always falling through.
A small bandbox can be easily carried _inside_ of a trunk or box, keeping it steady by filling in heavy articles closely round it. The best way of securing a bandbox-lid, is to have a hole made in the rim or top of the lid, and a corresponding hole in the side of the bandbox, near its cover. Through each of these holes pa.s.s a string of ribbon or ferret; securing one end by a large knot inside, and leaving the other end outside; so that you can tie them together in a bow-knot. It is best to have two pair of these strings, one pair on each side of the bandbox.
Let your whole name (not merely the initials) be painted in white or yellow letters on each of your travelling trunks or boxes; and also the name of the town in which you live. Have also your name and residence painted in black on the leather part of your carpet-bag.
If you are clever at lettering, you can mark your trunks yourself with a small brush and a saucer of ready-mixed paint, which you may buy at a paint-shop for a few cents. The more conspicuously your baggage is lettered, the less liable you are to lose it. To make it still more easily distinguished, tie on the handles of each article a bit of ribbon; the same colour on every one--for instance, all blue or all red.
On returning home, let all the travelling cases, bags, straps, keys, &c., be kept together in one trunk; so that when preparing for your next journey you may know exactly where to find them.
A RIBBON SACK.--These bags are quite pretty, and very convenient for a short journey, or a visit of a day or two in the country. While on the journey, they are to be carried in the hand, and may contain whatever is necessary for a short absence from home; for instance, clean night-clothes, tightly rolled up; stockings; handkerchiefs; sewing materials; books, &c. To make a ribbon sack, take five or six pieces of _very_ broad, very thick, strong ribbon; each piece at least three-quarters of a yard in length. Sew all these stripes closely together, with very strong sewing-silk. Then fold or double this piece of joined ribbons, leaving one end half a finger longer than the other.
Sew up the two sides as you would a pillow-case, so as to form a square sack with a flap to turn over at the top. Round off, with your scissors, both corners of this flap, so as to make its edge semicircular. Then bind the top or mouth all round (flap and straight-sides) with thick velvet ribbon of a dark colour. Cover, with the same velvet ribbon, a very thick strong cotton cord about three quarters of a yard in length; and sew its two ends to the tops of the side-seams; so as to form an arched handle like that of a basket. Work an upright b.u.t.ton-hole near the edge of the flap, and sew on a handsome b.u.t.ton to meet it, a little below the straight edge of the bag"s mouth. If the ribbon is very thick and strong (broad belt-ribbon for instance) no lining will be necessary.
Also, no lining is required if the sack is of stout old-fashioned brocade. No other sort of silk will be strong enough without a lining.
A LADY"S SHOE-BAG.--Take a piece of strong linen or ticking. Fold or double it so as to leave a flap to turn over at the top. Then, with very strong thread, st.i.tch the bag into compartments--each division large enough to contain, easily, a pair of shoes. Next sew up the sides, and bind the flap with broad tape. Put strings or b.u.t.tons to the flap so as to tie it down. The shoes, when put in, must be laid together with the heel of one to the toe of the other; and if they are slippers with strings, tie the strings closely round both. These shoe-bags are very convenient when you are travelling.
A BOOT-BAG.--Take a piece of very strong brown linen or Russia sheeting; about a yard in length, and three-quarters wide. Fold it in the form of a pillow-case, and sew up the sides; leaving it at the open or top-end about a finger"s length (or four inches) longer at the back than at the front, so as to turn over like a flap. Hem this flap. Take two pieces of strong twilled tape, each about a yard or more in length. Double each tape in the middle, so as to make a double string. Sew these strings on one edge of the turn-over or flap, about half a quarter of a yard apart.
Having rolled up each boot, put them, side by side, into the bag. Pull down the flap over the opening or mouth; bring round the strings; and tie them tightly. The boots can thus be carried in a trunk or carpet-bag, without injuring other articles.
A TOWEL-CASE.--Travellers often complain much of the difficulty of procuring nice towels, in steamboats, at country inns, and at taverns in remote places. This inconvenience may easily be obviated by putting a few of your own towels into your trunk. In case of being obliged to proceed on your journey before your towels are dry, take with you, on leaving home, a square oil-cloth or oiled silk case or bag, made like a large pocket-book with a flap to fold over, and to fasten down with two or more b.u.t.tons and loops. Having squeezed your wet towels as dry as you can, fold or roll them into as small a compa.s.s as possible; and put them into the case. Before you go to bed, take them out, and hang them about your room to dry.
In this towel-case there maybe separate compartments for tooth-brushes, soap, and a sponge.
CONVENIENT HAIR-BRUSHES.--We highly recommend to travellers those hair-brushes that have a looking-gla.s.s at the back, with a comb fixed on a pivot, and concealed beneath the mirror, so as to be drawn out when wanted. Those of black buffalo horn are the strongest. With one of these you may always have a comb and a small mirror at hand, all three occupying no more s.p.a.ce than a simple hair-brush.
A TRAVELLING-CASE FOR COMBS AND BRUSHES.--Get about three-quarters of a yard of strong oiled silk of the best quality--double it--leaving one side, at the top, about half a quarter longer than the other, so as to fold over like a flap. Sew it strongly up, at the bottom and sides, with a felled seam. Then st.i.tch it lengthways into compartments, like an old-fashioned thread-case--except that the divisions must differ in size; taking care to make each division rather large, that the articles may go in easily, and not rub against each other. Make one compartment large enough to contain a hair-brush; allot another to a comb; others to tooth-brushes; one to a nail-brush; one to a clasp-knife; one to a pair of scissors; one to a vial of lavender or camphor; one to a sponge; and another to a cake of soap; and a large one to hold a towel. In short, make the divisions according to the size and number of useful articles you require in travelling. Sew two pair of strings to the flap, and tie them fast when the articles are all in. Let your name be marked on the outside of the flap.
This bag may be made of strong linen, or ticking. But oiled silk is better, as you can then put into it tooth-brushes and sponges when quite wet. If of oiled silk, let there be one compartment large enough to hold a wet towel. It is well in travelling always to take with you some towels of your own; and if after using them there is no time for drying, you can roll them up and carry them away wet, if you have furnished yourself with an oiled silk bag.
TO CARRY INK WHEN TRAVELLING.--Have ready a small square bag of oiled silk, or thick buckskin, with a narrow tape string sewed on near the top. Buy a small six-cent vial of good ink. The vial must be broad and short with a flat bottom; so that it will stand alone, and answer the purpose of an ink-stand. If the seal on the cork has been cut away, get a longer and better cork, and wedge it in as tightly as possible. Cut off a finger-end from an old kid glove; put it over the cork, and draw it down closely till it covers both the top and the neck of the bottle, tying it on tightly with narrow tape. Then wrap the bottle in double blotting-paper, and put it into the little oil-cloth bag, securing the top well. To prevent all possibility of accidents, from ink stains, do not pack the ink-bottle in a trunk with your clothing, but keep it in your travelling-basket or reticule. _We know_ that ink thus secured has been carried many hundred miles, with the convenience of being always at hand to write with, whenever wanted, in a steamboat or at a stopping-place. The best way of carrying quill-pens is in a pasteboard pen-case, to be had at the stationers for a trifle. Steel-pens may be wrapped in soft paper twisted at each end.
We highly recommend a neat and convenient article called a travelling escritoir. It occupies no more s.p.a.ce than a cake of scented soap, and is so ingeniously contrived as to contain a small ink-bottle with a lid so close-fitting as to be perfectly safe; a pen-holder; a piece of sealing-wax; a wax taper; and some lucifer matches with sand-paper to ignite them on the bottom of the box. The whole apparatus can be safely carried in the pocket, or in a ladies reticule, or it may be put into a travelling-desk. It is to be purchased in Philadelphia, at Maurice Bywater"s stationery store, No. 151 Walnut street, near Fifth. We know nothing better for the purpose; and the cost is trifling.
BONNETS.--Before you send a straw bonnet to be whitened, it will be well to remove whatever stains or grease marks may be upon it. Do this _yourself_, as many professed bonnet-cleaners are either unacquainted with the best methods, or careless of taking the trouble; and will tell you, afterwards, that these blemishes _would not_ come out. You can easily remove grease marks from a straw, leghorn, or Florence braid bonnet, by rubbing the place with a sponge dipped in _fresh_ camphine oil; or by wetting it with warm water, and then plastering on some sc.r.a.ped Wilmington clay, or grease-ball; letting it rest half an hour, and then repeating the application till the grease has disappeared.
Magnesia rubbed on dry will frequently remove grease spots, if not very bad. To take out stains, discoloured marks, or mildew, moisten slightly with warm water some stain powder composed of equal portions of salt of sorrel and cream of tartar, well mixed together. Rub on this mixture with your finger. Let it rest awhile; then brush it off, and rub on more of the powder. When the stain has disappeared, wash off the powder, immediately, and thoroughly, with warm water. By previously using these applications, no trace of grease or stain will remain on the bonnet, after it has undergone the process of whitening and pressing in the usual manner.
In cleaning straw bonnets it is best to give them as much gloss and stiffening as possible. The gloss will prevent dust from sticking to the surface, and the stiffness will render them less liable to get out of shape when worn in damp weather. For a similar reason, the wire round the inside of the edge should _in all bonnets_ be very thick and stout.
If the wire is too thin, even the wind will blow the brim out of shape.
An excellent way of cleaning and whitening straw or leghorn bonnets may be found in the House Book, page 67.