486. To Wash Colored Muslins

486.    To Wash Colored Muslins. In washing colored muslins and linens, there are several very essential points to be observed, whereby the colors are preserved from injury. In the first place, they should not be soaped or soaked over night, as the more delicate of the hues would be deteriorated by such process. When ready for washing, they should, if not too dirty, be put into cold water and washed up very speedily; if very dirty, the water may be lukewarm and no more. But above all, be careful not to use the smallest particle of soda. The best soap for washing articles made of this material is the common yellow. It is much better than the mottled, because it is less harsh, and removes the dirt in a shorter period. A small piece of alum should be boiled in the water in which the lather is made. The soap should not be allowed to remain any time on the linen; the latter should be soaped and washed as rapidly as possible, and not lie in the water any length of time. One article should therefore be washed at a time, and immediately rinsed through two cold waters, the others remaining in a dry state by the side of the tub until they are taken to be washed each in its turn. The liquid in which the articles are to be rinsed in succession immediately as they are washed, should consist of 3 or 4 gallons of cold soft water, with a handful of table salt dissolved in it. Should alum not be added to the lather, then a tea-spoonful of vinegar should be stirred into the water for each rinsing; this will help to fix and brighten the colors. The moment an article is taken from the rinsing tub, it should be wrung very gently, being twisted as little as can be helped. After rinsing, they should be hung out immediately to dry.

487. To Preserve the Colors of Merino, Mousselines-de-Laine, Gingham, Chintz, and Printed Lawns

487.    To Preserve the Colors of Merino, Mousselines-de-Laine, Gingham, Chintz, and Printed Lawns. Before washing almost any colored fabrics, it is recommended to soak them for some time in water to every gallon of which is added a spoonful of ox-gall. A tea-cup of lye in a pail of water is said to improve the color of black goods, when it is necessary to wash them. A strong clean tea of common hay will preserve the color of French linens. Vinegar in the rinsing water, for pink or green, will brighten those colors, and soda answers the same end for both purple and blue.

The colors of the above fabrics may be preserved by using a strong milk-warm lather of white soap, and putting the dress into it, instead of rubbing it on the material, and stirring into a first and second tub of water a large table-spoonful of ox-gall. (See No. 489 (To Prepare Ox-gall for Washing Colored Articles).)

488. Hints for Washing Colored Clothes

488.      Hints for Washing Colored Clothes. No colored articles should ever be boiled or scalded. Neither should they be allowed to freeze, or the colors will be irreparably injured. They should be ironed immediately they are dry enough, and not be allowed to lie damp over night, nor be sprinkled. They should not be smoothed with a hot iron. Pink and green colors, though they may withstand the washing, will frequently change as soon as a hot iron is put over them.