472. To Wash White Silk Lace or Blond

472.    To Wash White Silk Lace or Blond. Take a black bottle covered with clean linen or muslin, and wind the blond round it (securing the ends with a needle and thread), not leaving the edge outward, but covering it as you proceed. Set the bottle upright in a strong cold lather of white soap and very clear soft water, and place it in the sun, having gently with your hand rubbed the suds up and down on the lace. Keep it in the sun every day for a week, changing the lather daily, and always rubbing it slightly when you renew the suds. At the end of the week, take the blond off the bottle, and (without rinsing) pin it backward and forward on a large pillow covered with a clean tight case. Every scallop must have a separate pin; or more, if the scallops are not very small. The plain edge must be pinned down also, so as to make it straight and even. The pins should be of the smallest size. When quite dry, take it off, but do not starch, iron, or press it. Lay it in long loose folds, and put it away in a pasteboard box.                 

Thread lace may be washed in the same manner.

473. To Clean Thread Lace

473.    To Clean Thread Lace. Thread lace may be cleaned in the same manner as in last receipt. Or, when the thread lace has been tacked to the bottle, take some of the best sweet oil and saturate the lace thoroughly. 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 shifting 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 white 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.

In washing laces, put 12 drops aqua ammonia in warm suds.

474. To Prepare Silks for Washing

474.    To Prepare Silks for Washing. Most colors are really improved by the following method, especially red, purple, orange, blue, olive, puce, etc.. The more delicate greens are not improved, neither are they injured. This is likewise the case with lavender. If the silk is to be washed in a dress, the seams of the skirt do not require to be ripped apart, though it must be removed from the band at the waist, and the lining taken from the bottom. Trimmings, or furniture where there are deep folds, the bottom of which is very difficult to reach, should be undone so as to remain flat.

475. To Wash Silks

475.      To Wash Silks. The article should be laid upon a clean smooth table. A flannel should be well soaped, being made just wet With lukewarm water, and the surface of the silk rubbed one way, being careful 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 when the washing is done. 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 bo 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. The treatment of silks, after they have been thus washed, will be described hereafter. (See next receipt.)

Satin ribbons, both white and colored, and even satin dresses, may be cleansed with good effect by this process, which is likewise very effective in renovating all kinds of silk ribbons and trimmings.