Laundry Secrets by Mrs. R. T. Mitchell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 19, 1915

Laundry Secrets

By Mrs. R. T. Mitchell

MRS. R. T. MITCHELL

The following laundry secrets I have found very helpful, and I take pleasure in passing them on to others:—

In order to keep the daintily colored summer frocks fresh and attractive, we must have a special “fixative” for every color. Alum used in the rinsing water will prevent green from fading. Ox gall is good to use for gray and brown. A handful of salt thrown into the rinsing water will set blue. Hay water (made by pouring boiling water over hay) is excellent for washing tan or brown linen. A tablespoonful of black pepper stirred into the first suds in which cottons are washed will prevent colors running. Five cents’ worth of sugar of lead crystals, dissolved in a pailful of water, makes a solution which fixes the tone of pinks, blues, and lavenders. The fabrics should remain in the sugar of lead bath an hour or so before going to the suds.

These baths will not prevent a color from fading if the garment is hung in the sun to dry. Delicate colors, in fact all colors, are much less likely to fade if dried in the house.

Vinegar is useful in reviving colors. Add one teaspoonful of common vinegar to each quart of cold rinsing water; thoroughly saturate each article to be rinsed, wring tightly, and dry quickly.

If the color has been taken out of silks by fruit stains, ammonia water will usually restore it.