CHAPTER 33
THE CARE OF THE CLOTHES
Wash Clothes—Woolen Clothes—Brushing—Use of Hangers—Bag Covers—Winter Clothes—White Clothes
CARE OF THE CLOTHES. All clothes should be taken care of as systematically as possible, as their period of usefulness depends entirely on the way they are treated.
LINGERIE AND WASHABLE WAISTS AND DRESSES should be mended before they go to the laundry. A small hole will become a large one in washing, and not only is the work of mending doubled, but the injury to the garment is frequently irreparable.
WOOLEN CLOTHES. Dresses, suits, coats, skirts, etc., should be brushed regularly and watched closely for such small matters as loose buttons, frayed skirt edges, missing hooks and eyes, and soiled collars or necks.
HANGERS. Dresses and waists should be kept on hangers. Coats should never be left lying carelessly over chairs, and should never be hung up by the collar or armhole. They should be kept on hangers when they are not in use so that their necks and shoulders will not lose their shape.
BAG COVERS. Dresses and waists if made of light, perishable materials should be slipped into great bags of silkoline to keep them from the dust. The bag should be as long as the waist or dress. If one has plenty of closet room, it is much better to keep one's evening dresses hanging up in bags than to lay them in chests or drawers where they can not fail to become badly wrinkled.
SKIRTS should not be kept on wooden hangers, as they are likely to become stretched at the hips. Small strips of tape should be sewed inside the waistband of each skirt—one on each side, and an equal distance apart. The skirt should be hung by these hangers on two hooks placed just far enough apart to keep the belt taut.
WINTER CLOTHES should be brushed and cleaned and then put away during the Summer months with plenty of gum camphor, moth-balls or some other safe moth preventive.
SUMMER CLOTHES should be put away clean and packed as carefully as possible, so that they will not need pressing when they are wanted again. Sheets of blue tissue-paper can be put between the folds of white dresses to prevent them from turning yellow.
156
