BEAUTIFUL LACE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20906, 11 September 1939, Page 4

BEAUTIFUL LACE

TREAT IT WITH CARE Lace, which has been so definitely “ out ” for many a long season, is now coming into its own again. If you have any old and precious lace stored away, now is the time to bring it into daylight. But, wait a moment, it may have accumulated a spot of grubbiness during its storage, so what’s to do about it? Quite a number of things . . . 1. The greatest danger in washing old and fragile lace is that it tears very easily when wet. To avoid handling, therefore, put the lace in a jar, or large-sized milk bottle. Threequarters All the bottle with warm soap suds, and shake gently, hut thoroughly—after the style of shaking a cocktail, but without quite such vigour, please! Rinse in the same fashion, in two or three lots of clean water. 2. Don’t hang your lace to dry. Spread it out carefully on a clean cloth, and tack it into position with a few large stitches of white cotton (not coloured, in case the colour runs) and hang the cloth out to dry. If the lace is delicately pointed, ease these points gently into position while the lace is still damp—then it will be far easier to iron than if allowed to dry crumpled. 3. Never iron direct on to lace. Put it face downwards on a thick ironing blanket, spread a damp cloth over it, and iron through this. Take care not to pull the lace at all while ironing. 4. Thick lace can be treated in a slightly more spartan fashion. This may be put into a saucepan of warm soap suds, and brought slowly to the boil. In order to get the lace into shape after washing, wind it round a bottle, carefully pulling it into shape. If allowed to dry this way it will need precious little ironing. 5. If you have a lacy garment t.o boil, take the precaution of slipping it into a muslin bag. In this way it will be easy to remove from the boiler, without any danger of wrenching or tearing. G. Black lace, that most fascinating of all trimmings, must be stored carefully, if it is to preserve its beauty. Black lace is liable to a peculiar type of mould, so if it is to be store, see to it that it is kept in a warm, dry room, and take it out, occasionally, for an inspection and an airing. 7. After washing black lace, give it a vinegar rinse. Do this by adding two tablespoonfuls of vinegar to a pint of cold water, and dip the lace up and down in this a few times. This removes that slightly “ rusty ” look which even the best black lace seems to acquire in time. 8. A lace veil can be safely washed by Lbe bottle system, and spread out on a towel to dry, taking care not to stretch. If a slight stiffness is required, pass it through a thin starch in the final rinsing. Iron this through muslin, on the wrong side, of course. 9. Gold and silver lace is slightly more difficult to clean. This has to be dry-cleaned, of course, and a good method is to sprinkle the laee with breadcrumbs (only the soft part of tiie bread) and rub very gently with clean llannel. The crumbs will remove the dirt., and the lace can then be shaken gently, to remove crumbs, and rubbed carefully with a piece of clean velvet. 10. boa t uqw your shoulder straps

direct on to your lace, bus on to material. Shoulder straps cure the cause of many a precious piece of lace being torn and spoiled.