CURTAINS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 October 1939, Page 10

CURTAINS

CARE AND CLEANING. Window curtains are becoming more and more important in the eyes of home-loving housewives. Well polished windows and clean curtains hung neatly were regarded as an indication of standard of living throughout Victorian times, but neither in the matter of taste in colour nor technique in washing was the housewife called on to depart from routine. The long, heavy curtains of velvet chenille brocade, repp or art serge hung from brass or wooden cornice poles were bought to last—fashion in colour changed little—and the washable lace curtains screening the panes were either snow-white or ecru-tinted. Even when the revolutionary casement cloths for the new casement windows that challenged the older bow-fronted or sash type came along, it was still merely a question of ivory white or deeper ecru. Today a multitude of window curtain materials has brought fascinating opportunities for indulging in charming colour schemes, and novel fabrics, and with them new problems in washing, cleaning and adjustment. How to Wash Net Curtains. Soak for half an hour in cold water. Then put into warm water, well lathered with soap flakes, and add two tablespoonfuls of household ammonia. Swish round and leave for quarter of an hour, occasionally moving them about. Take out. Put into clear warm water, rinse well, and finish rinsing under running cold water. Fold and put through the wringer, and leave wet until ready to iron. Do not hang or dry them at all. Iron still wet and put curtains up as soon as possible, pulling them to length and evenness when they are up. A sure way of preserving size and avoiding either stretching or shrink ing of panel curtains after washing in soap and flakes and rinsing well, is to take the curtains whilst wet and hang up to the windows. Then pull to shape and size of window gently, and fix each side to the window frame with drawing pins. In an hour or less they will be dry and shapely. When making net curtains always make a double hem. This will give between 2in or 3in extra length if required after the second or third washing. Another Method of Washing. Soak the curtains for half a day in cold water with a tablespoonful of cloudy ammonia; then make a lather with soap flakes and tepid water and squeeze and ■ shake the curtains in it, and repeat for even two, more such basinfuls. Rinse in tepid water until there is no sign of soap sud. Squeeze the water out, but do not wring or rub. Next, run a long rod through the top and the bottom hems, which I assume to be about U to 2 inches wide. The rods are the usual casement curtain kind, white enamelled, as stout as the hems will admit, and projecting at ■ each end of the curtain, so that these two projecting bits may rest upon 1 some object very high up, in order to ' allow the curtain to hang its full • length; this is’a valuable help in preventifig shrinkage. To help matters one < can gently stretch the net, holding the ( top rod with one hand, carefully pulling the net downwards, all along its ] width. This gives very softly hanging 1 curtains. 1