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| Life-Saving Hints for Curtains and Draperies |
A few precautions in storing, cleaning and laundering your
curtains and draperies will add to their attractiveness and prolong their
usefulness.
Curtains may be kept up and hung in cotton bags during the summer,
which is an effective way of keeping them clean when windows are open, or when
the family is away on vacation, or storage space and help are limited.
If the unwashable draperies are taken down, they should be
brushed, aired and packed away in large boxes. Never pack curtains tightly,
since it is hard to get the creases out again. Pile fabrics should be sent to
the cleaner to be steamed if they are badly crushed.
With sheers that you wish to put away for the summer, wash them
first, and then in the fall dampen and iron them before putting up.
When laundering glass curtains, let the tucks out first so that
you can correct the length afterward, using your shrinkage allowance if you
have to, and leaving a smaller tuck than the original one for the next tubbing.
Instead of attempting to shake out dust, rinse the curtains in a
preliminary tubful of clear, lukewarm water. You will discover that you have
loosened black dirt too, especially if you live in the city. For delicate
materials use lots of suds to cushion the material, more than you would with
apparel. If yours is a sturdy fabric, it can be washed in a machine. Use a mild
soap. Squeeze the water out, don't rinse, and hang the curtains straight. If
the fabric is net or lace and is not shrinkproof, you will need to use a
stretcher. With many shrinkable materials, no matter what pre- cautions you
take you will have shrinking, and the only course remaining will be to add a
new heading that is, of course, unless you have included plenty of room in your
shrinkage allowance. A little starch used with most glass fabrics will help to
make them look crisp after washing. Ruffles particularly need stiffening for
attractive starchiness.
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| Life-Saving Hints for Curtains and Draperies |
With delicate fabrics and colors, rolling in a towel after washing
will help to preserve both the color and the fabric.
Color-fast heavy fabrics may be laundered, if care is exercised.
Curtains and draperies may be dyed or tinted each season, as you will find they
do not keep their color.
Iron curtains lengthwise with a warm iron, stretching them evenly,
and when you are through hang them immediately, or lay them on a bed as, again,
creases are hard to take out. Sometimes ironing causes curtains to hang
unevenly and there is not much you can do about this. Automatic ironers do a
better job of ironing, since the pressure is even.
Curtains and draperies that are faded, soiled or sun- burned
irremediably at the bottom may be turned upside down, and the damaged part can
be covered with cornice or valance, or carefully pleated so that it does not
show.
Luckily, curtains and draperies that are somewhat worn always look
much better once they are hung than they do in our hands. And trimmings and
ruffles over worn edges will word wonders. Also panels may be reversed quite
easily, with the right-hand side changed to the left, so that the outside edge
which is worn or faded can be next to the trim and tucked under as much as
possible, the other edge which was formerly protected by the trim now appearing
quite fresh and unfaded.
