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Ironing Day: Starched
Starch with Stearin.-Add a teaspoonful of stearin to each pint of starch when boiling. This substance with the addition of bluing is sold under the name of "starch luster" at a much higher price than the stearin itself costs, and is no better.
Starch with Lard.-Add half a teaspoonful of lard or butter to each quart of cooked starch when boiling.
This helps to give the soft or domestic finish, and prevents the irons from sticking.
Additions to Starch. - Among the various substances added to starch for different purposes are wax, borax, salt, soap, lard, sugar, gum arabic, glue, stearin, and glycerin. Borax makes the starch more fluid, so that it goes farther, and also increases the gloss.
Salt prevents the starch from freezing in garments; wax and gum arabic and stearin increase the gloss and give additional stiffness, and soap and sugar improve the gloss. These substances may also be mixed together according to various special recipes.
Special Recipes for Starch.-Melt together with gentle heat white wax, 3 ounces; spermaceti, 3 ounces; borax, pound; gum tragacanth, 1½ ounces.
Add 1 teaspoonful of the mixture to 1 pint of cooked starch while boiling.
Or, to prevent irons from sticking, rub teaspoonful of lard and 1 teaspoonful of salt into the dry starch, and proceed as with ordinary cooked starch.
Or mix 1 teaspoonful of white soap run through a grater with 1 pint of starch while boiling.
Or melt with gentle heat 1 ounce of isinglass, 1 ounce of borax, 1 teaspoonful of white glue, and 2 teaspoonfuls of white of egg. Stir into 2 quarts of cooked starch while boiling. This will give shirt bosoms a high polish.
Starch with Soda.- Add teaspoonful of baking soda to 1 pint of cooked starch when boiling. This prevents the starch from whipping out of garments on the line, and also assists in giving finer finish.
To Apply Starch. - Strain the hot starch through a piece of cheese cloth and use while it is still warm. Select first the articles that require the most stiffness, as shirt bosoms, collars, and cuffs. A portion of the starch of course adheres to each, so that it becomes thinner by using. Starched clothes such as skirts, etc., should never be stiff enough to rattle. The garments to be starched should be nearly dry. Immerse them or such part of them as should be starched in the thick starch, and rub between the hands to work the starch thoroughly into their texture. Remove from the starch, squeeze out the excess, and rub once more with the hands to distribute the starch evenly through the material. If this is not done the surface will not iron smoothly. Dry the articles, sprinkle them, spread them on a clean white cloth, and roll them up in bundles so that the dampness will be evenly distributed before ironing.
To Starch Colored Clothes. - Divide the starch, set apart the required amount for colored clothes, and add bluing sufficient to make the starch quite blue. Use a liberal supply of bluing for blacks and dark colors, but not so much for light garments, especially pink. This will prevent white patches of starch from appearing on dark garments.
Or dip black or colored goods, as lawns and calicoes, in sweet or sour milk and use no starch. Milk alone will give the desired stiffness.
Or, for delicate colored goods, use a simple solution of gum arabic instead of starch.
Or rinse in dilute bran water or rice water instead of starch.
To Starch White Dress Goods. - Thin white dress goods, as white waists and summer gowns, may be starched with cold raw starch. Dry without starching. Dissolve a heaping tablespoonful of starch in sufficient water to immerse the garment, dip it into the starch until saturated, rinse in cold water, wring out, roll up in a dry cloth, and iron half an hour later.
Or dry the garments, dip a clean muslin cloth into raw starch, and lay over them long enough to dampen them. After a few minutes press them with hot iron.
For delicate lawns and similar fabrics use a solution of gum arabic diluted to give the stiffness required. CARE OF IRONING UTENSILS Ironing Utensils. - Various improved implements and machines have "An Ironing Machine for Domestic Use." been perfected for ironing, but the old-fashioned flatiron heated on the IRONING DAY range is still a well-nigh universal favorite. Mangles, or large heated cylinders revolving under pressure for ironing garments, have been in general use in laundries for many years, together with polishing machines and similar appliances. But until quite recently there has not been upon the market a satisfactory ironing machine suitable for domestic use. Such machines can now be obtained, and they are to be recommended for large families who can afford them. The denatured alcohol flatiron is a cheap, practical, and serviceable, device.
The electric flatiron is an ideal utensil in homes that are supplied with electricity.
The patented flatiron which has a removable wooden handle is a great improvement over the old-fashioned solid iron which requires the use of cloth or asbestos holders.
The asbestos flatiron is an implement that is especially recommended. To do fine ironing it is necessary to have several kinds of irons. For shirt bosoms, collars, and cuffs a ribbed or other polishing iron is necessary. Ruffles will be improved by the use of a fluting iron. The puff iron for fine tucks, puffy sleeves, and other elaborate work is especially useful. This iron is attached to a standard and the cloth is passed through it. It may be heated at the ordinary range.
Some persons are satisfied with the cold mangle, especially for table linens, linen sheets, and other linen pieces, on the theory that heat has a tendency to deteriorate the linen and also to give it a yellow tinge, but ironing by means of hot irons is still the custom.
A toy flatiron such as is sold for children is not only useful in the hands of a child for ironing dolls' clothes as a lesson in domestic economy, but is also very convenient to the laundress for tucks, fluting, and other difficult parts of dresses and similar garments.
Such an iron may be packed in a trunk and taken on vacation trips.
It will be found most useful in hotels, where it can be heated over the gas or by means of a small alcohol lamp, and used for doing up handkerchiefs, laces, ribbons, and other small articles, both a d. "a. Device for Heating Flatirons. b. Holder. c. Emery-cloth Board. d. Wax. e. Stand." as a measure of economy and also to prevent their being deteriorated by careless treatment in the laundry.