Cleaning Winter Clothes and Putting Them Away

Since our women at this season are occupied with cleaning the winter clothes for themselves and the members of their families, we found it a fitting occasion to offer you, Madam, some useful practical advice on how to clean winter clothes and put them away for the opening of next winter — and the word goes to Miss Karam Tanir:

No doubt, Madam, you began some time ago to wear the light summer clothes that suit the hot weather. And in this season you must set your woolen winter clothes aside and keep them for next year's winter. These clothes are bound to be soiled or stained from constant wear, so you should not store them in that dirty state; rather, try to clean and iron them before you put them in the wardrobe. For this method preserves the color and maintains the strength of the cloth, and so keeps the moths away.

If you wish, Madam, to wash your clothes made of broadcloth, brush the dust off them, then soak them in cold water for a long time, until all the threads are wetted through. After the soaking, put them in lukewarm water containing soap or potash, and take care that the heat of the water does not exceed the proper limit, for then the color of the cloth turns into patches of varied hues, devoid of all beauty, and in that case the piece must be soaked and washed all over again. Wash the light-colored pieces before the other colored ones, then rinse them twice in cold water, and if they are made of cotton broadcloth, put them in water with a little salt in it. Wring them out and hang them in the shade, so as to keep the color of the cloth from fading. And after they have dried somewhat, they are ironed by the steam method.

Before you put furs away in your wardrobe, try to remove whatever dust is on them with the brush.

As for knitting wool, it is washed in a special soap with lukewarm water, then rinsed gently by hand and spread out without being wrung hard. It is then laid out on the table so that the piece does not stretch or depart from its natural size and shape. If you discover, Madam, an ink stain on your dress, you can remove it by wetting the piece with water and then working it loose with spirits along with the washing. But if the stain is from fruit or oil, its only remedy is benzine, and you must put a little plaster powder on the place of the stain immediately after using the benzine, until the oil is fully absorbed.

After ironing the clothes, put them away in good order in your wardrobe, taking care to use naphthalene or insect-repelling lavender, placed in small quantities in the pockets. And do not neglect to air the clothes from time to time, without putting them in the sun.