The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-23
BLEACHING LEGHoRN HATS.
1t is Not Difficult to Clean Old Str;tws
or Even Change Their CoIOrs.

or Even Change Their COlOrs.
If you are one of those enterprising
women who enjoy doing for them
selves the many little things, the cost
of which, taken in the aggregate,
make so startling a proportion of the
months expenses, you will be glad to
know that the light leghorn hate of the
family may be successfully hleached
at home. and by the very same
methods which are employed by those
who make bleaching and pressing
their business.
The first and regular method is
that of bleaching with sulphur. This
method is best pursued out of doors.
Get a barrel, place in the bottom a
tin pan, in which is some charcoal.
and five or ten cents worth of sur
phur.
First wash your hat with butter
milk, rub it thoroughly, then tie a
string from side to side, 50 that you
can suspend it inside the top of the
barrel. Light the charcoal and cover
the barrel closely with carpet or any
heavy material; leave it until the
charcoal burns out and the fumes of
the sulphur have done their work
thoroughly. You will find the hat as
white as though it had come from the
professional bleacher.
The second or irregular" method is
easier and quicker, but L would not
advise it's use in tine case of an
especially fine or expensive hat. as it
is more injurious to the material; but
for ordinary leghOrns and straws.
good for but one more seasons use.
it is very satisfactory and as mex
pensive as the others.
Take a few grains of oxalic acid
and dissolve them in soft water. or a
weak solution of oxalic acid may be
had at the drug store. his acid is
poisonous, and if left upon paper.
strong, eventually eat its way
through fabric or skin. The solution.
therefore, must be weak.
Use a stiff brush and scour the hat
with the solution till white. This will
not only clean but bleaoA the straw.
Next rinse it in clear. soft water and
press into shape.
The pressing may be done by in
sorting a piece of stiff pasteboard in
side the rim of the crown. or. better
still, by putting cloth over an in
till nearly dry, then press the crown
by laying a cloth over it and ironing
it over the tin. and the rim may be
ironed on the table in the same
manner, always having a cloth be-
tween the iron and the straw.
A medium or dark-colored hat may
be made a good shade of black by APP
plying several coats of good shoe polish
with stiff brush. but a white hat
can only be colored black by dyeing.
To accomplish this, first clean the hat
by leaving it over night in solution
of cooking soda. one ounce of soda to
a Navigation of soft water. Rinse
thoroughly in the morning and put at
once into the dye, as the straw must
be wet in order to take the color. To
make the dye, dissolve a package of
dye in sufficient water to cover the
hat well, and add one teaspoonful of
salt for each quart of water. Let the
hat boil for an hour in the dye, re-
move from fire and let it cool in the
dye, then rinse and place to dry.
When nearly dry, press as already di-
rected.
Hats of various shades may be
colored to match as uit by an easy
process, which does not destroy the
shape, if the contrast in color is not
too great. To do this, dissolve a
package of dye of the shade required
in a little alcohol and add a half-pint
of shellac varnish. Apply with a
stiff brush More alcohol and less
varnish will make the hat more PHI
able; the proportion must be deter
mined by the nature of the straw.
If the black hat, when dyed, lacks
luster, it may be brushed over with a
solution of one-half ounce of bonnet
glue in one pint of water. j. D. c.