This Is How to Wash Your Woolens!

Madam: with the end of this month the season of spring arrives, and with it the cold shrinks away and departs; naturally you and I will turn to our woolen clothes, putting them in order and washing them in preparation for laying them away until the coming season.

Out of care that your woolens — above all your sweaters — remain in excellent condition, without shrinking or sagging, I shall faithfully pass on to you what one of my friends, expert in these matters, advised me. She said:

It is best not to risk washing your tailored suits yourself, lest they lose their luster and freshness; it is always better to place them in the keeping of the specialists and have them steam-cleaned. But cleaning the woolen sweaters — yours, your husband's, and your children's — that is your own task.

The best thing to use for this purpose is baladi soap dissolved in lukewarm water — neither hot nor cold. As for the sorts of soap powders with which the markets abound, they are mostly not free of the chemical substances that harm woolens, despite their great usefulness for whites and cottons.

Put the sweater in the water and rub the sensitive spots gently and without harshness, lest they felt up; then rinse it generously with cold water. If it is colored, roll it, while wringing, inside a large towel, for this method is sure to keep the colors from running one into another, and to preserve its brightness and the cleanness of its appearance. And when you spread it out, take care not to hang it on the line in the usual way; rather lay it flat on a large sheet of paper, on a chair or on the floor, keeping its original shape until it dries.