Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1912 — HOW TO CLEAN SILK GOWNS [ARTICLE]

HOW TO CLEAN SILK GOWNS

Gin and Water Cure Among the Infallible Remedies for Soiled Silk and Satin. Now that black and dark colored silks are again in fashion it is wise to use our grandmothers’ remedies tor cleaning them —in the days when a silk gown was a real possession. Among the infallible remedies so s cleaning black satin or silk which they knew of there was the gin and water cure. A sponge dipped in a mixture of this was used to remove the shine and clean it thoroughly, the silk being afterwards ironed while still damp. In order to keep woolen dresses and skirts in good condition and freeing them from dust, every woman kept a cato’-nlpe-tails of ingenious manufacture, with which she flagellated the gowns which were used for street wear. This instrument of torture was made of a short stick, to the end of which narrow strips of leather were attached. With It the material received a thorough beating on cleaning day. An old-fashioned method of cleaning white kid gloves which had lost their first freshness as the result of a ball or a visit to the play, without being absolutely soiled, consisted in cleansing them with white soap. Pure eastile soap, procured at drug stores, was merely dipped In water and then rubbed over the finger tips, the gloves having In the first instance been drawn over ! The soap, without being wet, clung to the kid, and this was finally rubbed off with a piece ul very soft flannel,

the result being sufficiently satisfactory- to enable them to be worn once more without undergoing cleaning with beniine or other spirit.