LACES AND LACE CURTAINS To Wash Lace.—To wash cotton or linen lace or embroidery prepare suds of hard white soap with hot water, to which add 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of borax. If much soiled, boil the arti cles in the suds before or after wash ing, or both. Squeeze them with the hands or draw them through the fin gers in the suds until clean, rinse in clear water, add to the last water about teaspoonful of granulated sugar to 1 pint of water, and iron without starching.
White Laces.—White linen and cot ton laces and embroideries may be washed in soapsuds in the same man ner as other delicate white goods, ex cept that more care is required in their handling. To prepare these goods for the laundry, baste the small pieces, as doilies and smaller embroideries, Battenberg pieces, edging, and the like, on a piece of linen or cotton cloth larger than the lace. Take care to catch every point with basting thread. Several small articles can be basted on one large piece. After wash ing, if the cloth is stretched, the lace will dry in perfect condition without ironing. Fine lingerie, as lace waists, etc., may be basted inside a pillow case or special cotton bag prepared with a draw string for this purpose, and need not be taken out from the time it is put into the first wash water until after it is hung on the line, dried, and ready to iron. This prevents the lace from being frayed or torn by buttons catching in it, etc. Lace edg ing and other long pieces may be quickly basted on to a piece of cloth with the sewing machine by making the stitch long.
Or, to prepare a long piece of lace for the laundry, it may be wound around a large glass bottle. First surround the bottle with a jacket of cotton or linen cloth .sewed on. At tach one end of the lace to this cloth jacket with basting thread, and roll the lace around it, overlapping care fully as in bandaging. Catch the ends and edges through the cloth jacket with basting thread.
To Soak Laces. — If lace is much soiled it may be soaked for an hour or more before washing in suds made of cold water and naphtha or curd soap. Do not use yellow soap or any
form of washing compound which may contain free alkali.
To Prepare Laces for the Wash.— First remove all stains, and if much soiled by perspiration wash in soap and cold water, rubbing the soiled spots gently between the fingers. Af ter the stains have all been removed the lace may be washed in warm suds, and, if necessary, afterwards boiled.
To Suds Laces.—Only the purest hard white curd soaps should be used for washing laces. Many persons save the scraps of fine castile and other toilet soaps, melt them with a small quantity of water in a double boiler, and make a soap jelly for use with these delicate fabrics. It is better to make soapsuds in a small kettle with soft water and fine soap in which to boil these articles than to put them in'the regular boiler. If they are not much soiled do not boil them, but bring the suds to a boil and pour over the laces, letting them soak until the water is cool enough to bear the hands. Wash as other fine goods, stripping between the hands as light ly as possible and sousing up and down in the suds. Use two or more fresh suds if necessary.
To Boil Laces.—Laces that are much soiled may be, if prepared and pro tected in the above manner, boiled in soapsuds the same as other white goods. To boil laces rolled about a bottle, first saturate the lace with olive oil or sweet oil, prepare strong soapsuds, and stand the bottle up right. Or the bottle may merely be dropped in with other articles.
To Rinse and Dry. — Rinse laces thoroughly in dear water, pressing the water out of them with the hands and dry in the hot sun without re moving from the cloth or bottle which protect them.
Point Lace and Battenberg.—Point lace may be washed as other laces if very carefully basted to a piece of fine white flannel and another piece of flannel basted over it. Care must be taken to catch all the points, using very fine basting thread. After rins ing, the flannel must be carefully stretched, and while still damp ironed, without removing the lace, until per fectly dry.