tests easily applicable and well worth while. Use upon samples, and buy
accordingly. Things over-cheap, it may be said in passing, carry their
condemnation in their price. Buying them is extravagance, since they
cost as much in time, trouble, and often in money for making up as sound
stuffs and make no adequate return in wear.
=Silk=: Test silk three ways—by tearing, scraping with the thumb nail,
and burning. Try to tear a raw edge across the filling. If it is easily
done the filling is either artificial or so loaded it will give no wear.
Weak warp is even worse—with warp and filling both easily rent, the
stuff is wholly bad. Pull out a few threads both ways and test their
strength separately. Easy breaking means that they are loaded with
earthy or metal salts to give weight and firmness without wear. Scrape
the surface diagonally with the thumb nail. If threads slip under the
scraping, let that particular silk alone. Rub well between the
fingers—pure silk feels smooth and soft; that which is loaded, crisp,
even harsh. Some silks have the face pure, the back loaded—wherefore
test both sides. End by burning a bit. Real silk does not burn readily,
and leaves a black ash. Weighted or loaded silk flashes up, burns
swiftly, and leaves behind a dull-red ash.
=Woolens=: Test by raveling out and burning. Untwist a raveled
thread—fibers of even, moderate length show pure wool. If there are a
few fibers with clots all along them the cloth is most shoddy—that is to
say, old wool ground up and mixed before spinning with a little new.
After-treatment makes it look well, but there is mighty little wear.
Snap a raveling between the hands—the harder the breaking the better the
goods. Soak a few threads in a little alcohol. This to test the color. A
tinge in the alcohol is to be expected, but if it becomes deep-colored,
and especially if it becomes muddy, the dyeing is bad. Cotton mixture
before spinning betrays itself in burning. Light a few threads or a
snippet—the smell will tell the truth.
=Linen=: Test linen in much the same fashion: ravel, untwist a thread,
and draw gently till resolved into original fibers. Cotton will show
soft, even a little fuzzy, in spite of mercerizing. Linen is woven from
flax fibers, which are always straight and thready, no matter how fine.
Burning gives out the smell of cotton where there is an appreciable
mixture. Test for fading by wetting in white soapsuds and drying in
sunshine or in front of a fire.
=Cottons=: Prints, muslin, lawns, sheeting, and so on, should be torn
across and lengthwise to test strength, nail-scraped, and rubbed betwixt
the fingers to discover if they are dressed too much, and dried in
sunshine for fading. Use will soften the fastest colors. In buying for
children get extra stuff and send it to wash each time with the frocks,
so when needed for re-making there shall be no glaring contrast.
=Forethought:= Begin before the beginning if you would sew easily. Set a
machine, well cleaned and oiled, where the light will fall over the
operator’s shoulder. For dressmaking, cover the floor with a sheet of
unbleached muslin tacked down smooth. Have a form for fitting, a tall
mirror, a table, with drop leaves if possible, and two bentwood chairs,
with a low rocker for basting and pressing in. At the right hand of it
hang on the wall a thin board with wire nails driven from the back in
treble row. Upon one row stick basting-spools, upon others spools of
silk, cotton, and twist. Upon a shorter upper row put cheap thimbles.
Have screw hooks at bottom for hanging shears, small scissors, tape
measure, pencil, and needle book. A screw eye in each upper corner of
the board slipped over nails or screw-hooks will hold it fast.
Hang a similar board on the wall back of the machine, and furnish the
nails in it with spools of thread—all sorts the machine may require. Put
a hook at bottom for special machine scissors, and hang upon another
hook a small, flat, open pocket to hold wisps of absorbent cotton for
wiping off oil, a tiny bottle of alcohol for removing spots of it, and a
couple of finger stalls and two short bandages to save pricked fingers
from making blood spots. A starch bag, very porous, for covering such
spots instantly, is also advisable with fine light-colored work.
Tack against the wall over the table a square of denim holding three
long pockets, set crosswise, for patterns. Keep patterns folded flat,
not rolled. Press smooth before using, and let lie till cool, so they
will not curl. Hang a small well-filled pincushion below the pattern
pockets, also leaves of flannel filled with basting-needles. Set close
by a firm-standing waste basket with a wide mouth. Throw into it all
useless clippings as fast as made.
=Cutting Out:= Spread plain-surfaced things, as silk, linen, serge, and
lighter woolens, double upon the table, which must be at full length.
Lay on patterns, having regard to warp and woof threads. Let warp run up
and down, woof around. In cutting a bodice the woof threads should make
a sort of belt. Thus they pull true, and the seams are an easy bias. Lay
on the whole pattern as nearly as space allows, and study economy of
material in arranging the pieces, but not at the cost of getting threads
wrong. Cut with sharp shears, taking care to allow for seams when
requisite. Lay off pieces as cut out, but keep the cloth steady by means
of light weights. Patterns are best pinned in place, but with long
lines, as skirts or draperies, books laid on as weights are better,
besides being easier.
Things with a nap, as broadcloth and corduroy, must not be cut with
cloth double from each end. If the goods is double-fold, cutting double
is desirable. Otherwise cut so the nap runs the same in each piece. This
also applies in case of figured stuffs with a decided up and down. To
make a waist or coat pattern smaller lay a crosswise plait from armhole
to edge, and cross it with a lengthwise one of equal width. Enlarge a
pattern by cutting it across instead of plaiting it and pasting in
strips of paper. Alter skirt lengths usually at the bottom; either fold
up or allow extra. If too wide, fold down along each edge to keep
proportions.
=Basting:= Baste shoulder seams with the upper half of the fronts
stretched tight, the back held a little full. Pressing heals the
puckers, which give the smooth fit over the hollow of the shoulder not
otherwise attainable. Use fine firm thread for basting, with a
large-eyed needle. Take medium running stitches in seams to be fitted;
with edges to be held for sewing together make the stitches very long,
and set them so far back the stitching will not catch them.
=Pressing:= Have a small board covered with flannel, then with muslin,
for pressing. An alcohol stove for heating irons saves time and trouble.
Keep it with the iron inside a handy box, upon which it can be set when
lighted. Do not damp woolen things before pressing. Moisten silk very
slightly, linen rather more, and cotton, as in linings, most of all.
Press rounding seams, such as armholes and rolling collars, over the end
of the board. Press sleeve seams with the small end of the board inside.
Sew up and press outer sleeve seams before sewing inner ones. Do the
same with very tiny trousers. Where pressing must be done on the right
side cover with a thin cloth very slightly dampened.
=Things Applied:= Lace, insertion, _motifs_, and so on, need to be set
on the cloth and sewed firmly in place, then to have the cloth cut out
underneath. Turn cut edges back and stitch or sew again. Ribbon
trimmings, unless gathered, are best put on by hand, with very long
stitches on the wrong side, very short ones on top. Bands or borders
applied as hems should be sewed on to the edge, turned over it, not flat
with it, then basted down and stitched at the upper edges. Hold true in
sewing on—a pucker or stretching ruins the fit. Miter corners very
neatly, and stitch upon the wrong side. In putting in a fold or piping
baste with the double edge even with the edge of the garment, or the
band, then turn over and baste before stitching. Hold lace a little full
on rounding edges so it shall not hoop nor draw.
Make fancy yokes, put on the collar, then arrange smoothly on the form,
put over the bodice, fit together, and set a thick row of pins where
they are to join. If the bodice edge is finished, pin together—if it is
to be sewn in, leave it free. An overlapping yoke had better have the
bodice cut almost full height, and the surplus cut away after the yoke
is put on.
=Making Over:= Begin making over by refurbishing—cleaning, dyeing,
pressing, turning. Rip, pick out stitches, take out spots, and brush.
=Dyeing:= Dyeing is easy. Use cotton or woolen dyes according to need.
But first wash stuffs very clean. Discharge color by soaking several
hours in suds, or cream-of-tartar solution, boiling half an hour in
clear water, and dye while still hot. Have a roomy dye pot, drop into it
all parts of a garment at once to make the new color uniform. Have the
stuff loosely crumpled, stir down instantly with a clean wooden stick.
Lift after a minute to air, stir down again, and finish according to
directions. Each dye has its own special limitations. Knitted woolens,
as sweaters, caps, and so on, must not be soaked nor boiled, only washed
quickly, covered with clear hot water, let stand a minute, then squeezed
out and put into the pot. Silk should not be washed unless very dirty;
clean with gasolene instead, but wet with clear hot water before dyeing.
If it loses body after washing, dip into stale beer or weak gum water
(see section Renovators) or else stiffen with weak sugar water, and iron
while damp. A black kid glove cut up and boiled in a gallon of water
till reduced one-half makes a good stiffener for black silk, also for
mixtures of silk and wool. This, whether they are dyed or merely washed.
So does stale beer.
Tack lace to strips of cloth before dyeing and leave on them till washed
and pressed. Dyed net had better be partly dried in crumpled heaps after
washing, then stiffened and pressed.
=Gasolene-cleaning=: Take out spots (see section Spots), then plunge in
a clean vessel, pour on gasolene to cover, wash quickly, laving rather
than rubbing or wringing. Change to clean gasolene, wash again, then
hang to air at least ten hours. This must be done away from fire or
light. Press on the wrong side, and roll around a rod or mailing-tube
instead of folding.
=Washing Silk and Cloth=: Tack, matching pieces together, right sides
in, wash double in warm white soapsuds, rinse twice, keeping temperature
even, and hang to dry without wringing. Take down when damp, and iron
double, going first over one side, then the other. Stiffen by wiping
over ahead of the iron with stale beer, glove liquor, or cold coffee or
weak tea, for silk; with very thin starch or gum water for woolens. Roll
after pressing. Iron cloth the way of the nap, not across it. Figured
silk and brocade should be ironed on a soft board.
=Freshening Lace=: A bath in stale beer with draining afterward freshens
rusty black lace, also stiffens it. It must be pressed when barely damp.
Clean cream and light laces in gasolene, using a very little white soap
if they are much soiled. Hang to air smooth—pressing hurts the look.
Lying in powdered starch and magnesia for a week will often freshen
laces. Mend them before cleaning (see section Making Whole). Shake free
of powder—dust and grime will go with it—and smooth by laying back and
forth between the leaves of a big book and putting on weight.
=Trimmings=: Clean ribbons, braids, galloons, and fringes in a bath of
gasolene, changing at need, hang smooth to air, then press under
weights, else roll inside a damp cloth for an hour, then press on the
wrong side with a warm (not hot) iron. Wind braid about spools or tubes,
and leave a day and night. Comb out fringes and wind around cardboard.
In dyeing fringe fold compactly and sew inside a thin bag, then dye as
usual. The bag prevents the fringe proper from matting.
=As to Turning=: Things worn threadbare had better be turned, either
with or without dyeing. Darn the threadbare spots, loosely and sparsely,
press—on the right side, of course. Press all over, then take stock of
needs and materials. Make the most of every clothes opportunity.
=Freshening Velvet=: Raise the pile of crushed velvet by stretching over
a wet cloth laid on the face of a very hot iron and brushing hard while
the steam rises. This answers for spots and streaks—with a crushed
surface or one so faded dyeing will help it, make into panne velvet by
pressing on the right side while damp, laying the pile all one way.
Velveteen and cotton-backed velvet dye poorly. Brush well, tack on a
board, and paint with hot dye, using a soft brush. Let stand in air to
set, then wash with a cloth and soapsuds, followed by rinsing. Press on
the right side while still damp. This gives a surface passable for
school hats or caps, or yokes and cuffs on made-over frocks.
=Save the Pieces=: In cutting down men’s clothes use the worn parts to
interline smaller new garments. Use the very best for the outside, even
though it necessitates piecing. Match threads and figures exactly, sew
fast, and press hard, then piecing hardly shows. Do it before cutting
out. With sleazy stuff whip over edges before sewing together. Avoid
putting pieced seams where there will be constant pressure.
=Adaptation=: A jacket or coat worn along seams may be made to serve
beautifully for a much smaller person by simply ripping all seams,
trimming, and sewing again. Lengthen skirts outgrown by insets of
embroidery or contrasting color. Make the waist to match, either with an
inset or a deep girdle. Aim to make all changes so they shall look
voluntary, not makeshift. In handing down outgrown garments be merciful
enough to change them so the new possessor shall not be taunted for
wearing. This is not hard; a new yoke, belt, and cuffs will transfigure
a garment, to say nothing of the magic wrought by dyeing. Cut, fit, and
finish madeovers quite as carefully as new things. Change trimmings—for
moral and esthetic effect. Make several dyeings—it is piteous to see a
whole family touched up with navy blue or wine-red or pink. Dyes are so
cheap, dyeing so easy, give yourself the satisfaction of variety. If
combining materials, dye them one after the other, the heaviest first.
It is likely to be deepest. Use the lighter tint according to quantity
and taste for foundation or accessories. Remember two good garments, or
even one, will do more good than several skimped and spoiled.
=Millinery=: Steam hats of fancy braid soft, unpick, steam again, sew
while soft, shape, and wire. To change color, paint over with dye, let
dry thoroughly, then wipe over with a cloth wet in alcohol to remove
surplus color. Or wash quickly with white soapsuds, drying in sunlight;
or wipe over with alum water. None of these are necessary if the color
does not rub off. Or veil with net, chiffon, lace, or grenadine. Cord
the brim edge with silk or velvet, and shir the thin stuff inside. Shape
by bending while still damp. Trim according to taste and fashion. Hats
of beaver can be steamed a very little, then pressed over an improvised
block—a fruit jar inverted, a crock, a tin pan, or bucket. Cover with a
damp cloth while pressing. Begin on something of little value, learning
by experience. Hats of velvet or silk or lace must be unpicked,
freshened, and made up anew, using new shapes. Lingerie hats require
simply washing and reshaping over clean frames with fresh or freshened
ribbons.
Restore ribbon and velvet as already directed. To improve crushed and
faded flowers touch the backs of the petals thickly with gum arabic (see
section Renovators), let dry, then dip in gasolene, lave quickly, and
pass on into more gasolene which has had a tube of oil color dissolved
in it. Work quickly, moving the flower sprays about so they shall not be
blotched nor streaked. Lay on soft paper to dry in airy shade. Big
flowers—roses, orchids, poppies—had better be separated before dyeing,
then remounted. Touching up the hearts with oil color rubbed smooth in a
little poppy oil, using a camel’s-hair brush, is a further improvement.
Stiff fancy feathers can be dyed, not by dipping, but painting with hot
dye, and taking off the surplus by brushing hard when dry with corn
starch and prepared chalk in fine powder. Touch mounting very
lightly—they are founded on glue. If ill-colored, conceal them with
_choux_ of ribbon or velvet or a made ornament.
Fine feathers should go to professionals—at least, until their owners
learn to color cheap ones. Draggled soft feathers may be colored with
gasolene and tube paint, shaking hard while they dry so there shall be
no clotting. Strip off when dry, and tie the flues into pompons about
lengths of stiff wire with loops in the end. Wind the wire with silk
thread or cover with a spiral of tissue paper. Two or three shades of
the same color tied thus make a handsome ornament for any school hat.
Clean white and light plumes by sprinkling very lightly with gasolene,
then burying a week in corn starch and magnesia. Shake out the powder,
beat the plumes steadily but gently against the palm, then comb very
gently with a coarse clean comb, and hold in the steam of a kettle.
Curl, if you like, by drawing the flues, a few at a time, over the edge
of a blunt knife, taking care to draw so steadily there is no breaking.
=Ornaments=: Mark what you wish—buckle, butterfly, star, crescent,
dagger, or quill—accurately upon rather fine buckram, sew fine wire over
the outlines, then cut out neatly. Cover with silk or velvet. Make a
butterfly body of velvet very slightly padded with wings of silk. Sew
firm, turning stuff well over edges, then sew on beads, any sort you
like. Make them imitate butterfly markings, cover a quill as though
flues, fill star surfaces completely, but simply edge crescents and
buckles. After edging put inside bigger beads, of contrasting color. The
beading done, cover the whole under side neatly with soft thin silk or
net. Quills need a stout center wire. Crystal, with a tip of gold beads
or silver and bronze or jet with silver and rhinestones, deftly managed
make effective ornaments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII
REMEDYING SPOTS, STAINS, AND TARNISH
=Grease Spots in Wood=: Scour unpainted wood with clean sand after
pouring strong lye upon the grease spot. If it is very obstinate, cover
with a paste of prepared chalk, corn starch, and whiting wet with
ammonia, let stand two days, and scour. Grease stays on varnished
surfaces; wash it off with warm borax soapsuds and follow, after wiping
dry, by a hard rubbing with alcohol and turpentine mixed. Machine oil
must be taken out with either gasolene or alcohol, then scoured with
cold suds—heat sets it.
Dust greasy walls thickly with powdered chalk or whiting, brush off
after a day, and repeat. For a small but staring spot lay chalk thickly
between net, hold it flat against the spot, with a very hot iron over
it. Commonly this will take up the grease. Chalk or whiting wet with
alcohol to a thin paste and left to dry on grease spots, then gently
brushed off, will remove grease. But with paper badly spotted it is best
to take it off and put on a fresh length.
Machine oil on garments old or new must be taken out with gasolene, else
washed in white soap and cold water. If spots are black as well as
greasy, lay them face down upon a thick cloth and pour alcohol or
gasolene through, not rubbing the spot proper, but sawing it back and
forth against the cloth underneath—thus the black is not imbedded in the
fabric. Lay thin things spotted face down and dab hard repeatedly with a
swab of cotton tied in net and wet with gasolene. Move the spots to
clean surfaces, and swab till clean. Lay silk and gauze, especially
delicately colored ones, over a layer of calcined magnesia mixed with
corn starch, and pour through either grain alcohol or chloroform. Wet
very lightly a ring around the spot of unspotted fabric and work from it
inward to the spot. This to save annoying circles.
Take grease out of woolens with a flood of gasolene, changing it as it
grows dirty. If caked dirt shows afterward, wash with naphtha soap,
applying lather to the spot, holding a very hot iron a little way from
it for a minute, then washing off with hot water. Instead of the iron
you may hold the spot to the spout of a boiling kettle, letting the
steam penetrate it. Greasy coat collars and heavy garments blotched with
spilled food demand washing in suds besides the washing in gasolene.
For a greasy carpet mix whiting and cornmeal, make hot, sift on thickly,
cover with gasolene, and rub hard and quickly until the gasolene
evaporates, then sweep very clean and wipe with a damp cloth. If
gasolene involves fire risks, leave the powder standing for several
days, sweep off, and repeat if the grease is not all gone.
Axle-grease spots or any other partly resinous must be softened with
oil, then taken out with gasolene or turpentine. Washing, even boiling,
sets them. It is the same with linseed-oil spots. Take them out with
turpentine followed by gasolene.
=Road Stains=, whether from mud, asphalt, tar, oil dirt, or oil proper,
are as easy to get as they are hard to get rid of. Let mud cakes and
flakes severely alone until dry—wiping while wet smears them and gives a
firmer hold on the fabric underneath. A soft semi-fluid mud, if it can
be dipped almost instantly in clear water, laved without touching, then
have water poured through from the back, will be apt not to leave a
mark—so wash whenever such washing is possible. Where it is impossible,
hold the stained surface mud side down until dry, then rub and brush
well before attempting to get rid of the mark. Stiff mud left to dry
undisturbed will come away leaving but a faint mark. If it is clay mud,
pour boiling water through it from the wrong side in a steady stream for
at least a minute. Wet as small a space as possible, stretch it smooth,
let dry, brush or rub with coarse velvet, cover with a cream of French
chalk, starch, and alcohol, let dry, and brush off; commonly the stain
goes with it. This for silk or wool. Wash fabrics need only to be well
laundered after the boiling-water treatment.
Grimy mud needs to be well wet with kerosene, let stand an hour, then
cleaned with either alcohol or gasolene. Gasolene or benzine will also
take out spots of tar and asphalt, but they come away quicker and
cleaner if first wet with turpentine, then greased on both sides with
soft lard, and let stand a while. Dip in the gasolene, soiled side out,
and change the gasolene as soon as it looks dark. Bold big stains may
demand three changes. After the stain is out spread the fabric smooth
and wipe all round the gasolened space with a cloth dipped in more
gasolene to prevent circles. Soften oil marks or those from oily dirt by
wetting thoroughly with kerosene, washing out later in gasolene as
directed for tar. Very fine things can be cleaned with ether or alcohol
instead of gasolene, pouring through the spot and rubbing with a wisp of
cotton.
Take grease from paper, as books or prints, by laying on thickly
powdered borax and calcined magnesia, and keeping warm for several days.
Shut books tight upon the powder and put under moderate weight. Or iron
over the powder with a very hot iron, shake off, apply fresh, and tie or
put under weight. A tender old print, much soiled, should be pasted on a
thin cloth and cleaned with a damp, soapy cloth, then, after drying,
covered both sides with chalk, left several days, then shaken out and
ironed on the wrong side, with the right against a soft clean cloth.
Mitigate grease on leather bindings with the chalk pad and hot iron—it
is rarely wholly removable. Plain calf admits of gasolene, but for
anything else dry-cleaning alone is safe.