The Laundry, foi 



'they are then dipped into the raw starch and rubbed as for washing, 

 squeezed dry and spread out on a clean sheet or cloth. The articles must 

 not be placed one over the other and should cover only half the sheet. 

 The other half of the sheet is folded over them and the whole is rolled 

 tightly and allowed to stand for two or three hours to insure even dis- 

 tribution of moisture. 



10. Drying. The process of drying should not, if avoidable, be so 

 carried on as simply to remove moisture. Clothing should if possible 

 be hung where it will be freely exposed to the action of fresh air and 

 sunshine. This purifies and bleaches at the same time. In many 

 commercial laundries a chemical bleach is used to whiten clothing which 

 is necessarily dried in steam closets, and thus does not have the bene- 

 ficial bleaching action of sunshine. The home launderer does not often 

 meet this problem. 



The launderer should be provided with a clothespin bag or, better 

 still, a clothespin apron with a deep wide pocket. 



When possible lines should be taken down each week, but when this 

 has not been done they should be well wiped with a damp cloth before 

 hanging up clothes. The clothes pins should be clean. Each article 

 should be turned wrong side out and hung with the threads of the material 

 straight and the garment should be shaped as nearly as possible in its 

 natural shape. Avoid hanging pieces by the corners as it pulls them out 

 of shape. Fasten garments by bands when possible. Table linen, bed 

 linen and towls should be well stretched and hung very straight and 

 the larger pieces should be pinned in at least four places, as it is nearly 

 impossible to iron properly a badly hung piece. Careful hanging greatly 

 reduces the labor of ironing. When the clothes are brought in from the 

 line the clothes pins should be put into the apron or basket kept for this 

 purpose and put away to keep clean. 



Starched pieces should not be allowed to freeze and should be removed 

 from the line as soon as dry, as long hanging reduces their stiffness. 



If flannel underwear is properly stretched and hung it can be folded 

 and put away without further treatment. 



1 1 . Dampening. Clothes should be dampened some hours before 

 being ironed, as this distributes the moisture evenly and docs away with 

 the necessity of using a superfluity of water. This is best done at night, 

 but only as many articles should be sprinkled as can be ironed next day, 

 for damp fabric will mildew if left wet a very long time, especially in 

 hot weather. Clothes should be well dampened and not soaked. Very 

 often, trouble in ironing starched pieces is due to over wetting. The 

 starched part is soaked and made limp and sticky. A clean whisk 



