The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-04-11
Ironing Shirts, Collars and Cuffs.

wise through the back, and iron this
smoothly, next iron the sleeves (the
unstarched portion Of then), then iron
che unstarched part Of the front of the
shirl, After this take the wristbands,
and iron these, press en- the wrong side
first, then on the right; and if you
wish these polished, after you have
ironed them perfectly dry, take a
damp cloth and rub them all over the
right side, 80 that they will be a little
damp. Now with your polishing iron
proceed to press and rub them until
you have attained the "gloss" you so
much desire. The iron should not he
too hot, or with the repeated rubbing
and polishing, there will be attained q
something besides polish, a yellow
tinge, which is not desirable. This is
the chief secre Of the "shine," the
dampening after the bands are once
ironed and the rubbing and polishing
with the genuine polishing iron. I
have sometimes given something of q
shine by means of the ordinary sad
iron, by dampeniug the article after it
vas n C pressed dry, but these irons
are not the proper thing, and a polish
ing iron is essential where one must do
up fac shirts, collars and shirt waists.
Iron the collar band next, and do not
stretch it lengthwi5e Until you have
made it about half a siz larger than
it's ordinary intention. II stretched
too mUca l~engthwis9, it will leave a
bad shape at the front and the shirt
will not "6t," the collar will also fail
to fit" and it may be that some one
who tried to do her best will get fits"
for not doing better.
After all the rest of the shirt is
ironed, lay the bosom board under the
bosom, take a dampened cloth and rub
the bosom from top doWnwards even
after this ~precauGion it is we'll to lay q
| piece of old muslin over before press
ing with the iron this will remove any
surplus starch or lump Of starch which
may Iurk unseen TO spoil the work Of
an other wise perfect laundryinB. The
bosom must be iruned until dry, and If
the irons are helps TO keep the articles
stiff longer. Dissolve gum arabic In
water uutil it is ABOUT as thick as com
mon mucilage; put a tablespoonful OF
this mixture into a gallon of made
starch. A laolespo onful of kerosene IN
the same amount of starch gives a
Certain smoothness and renders ironing
easier. The odor will have evapOrAted
before the garments are ready for use.
I frequently put in a teaspoontul OF
borax into the starch, out | do not o
slider that this gives as durable a stiff
ness as the gum arabic It certainly
does make the articles sitter.
A simple receipt for starch polish is
to take an ounce of white wax and the
same Of spermaceti, melt together and
let cool in a cake, a piece OF this the
size of a walnut put into a quart OF
made starch, will give a good gloss and
smoothness. Nearly the anne receipt
Is used and is called Enamel for Shirt
BOsom, two parts spermaceti and one
part white wax melted together and
cooled. Add to made starch as stated
above.
Silver Polish for Shirts-One ounce
, each of isinglass and boraX, one
!, teaspoonful of white glue, two teaspoon
fuls of white of egg Cook well In two
quarts of fine starch, starch articles il
/ the mixture aud dry. before ironing
, apply some of this to the shirt bosom
!, until we'll dampened; iron and poilst
| with polishing iron.
II a serious case of sc )rching has re
suited in ironing any garment, on
2 that ordinary washing and boiling will
! not remove this, try this Peel ant
slice two onions and extract the tic
as we'll as possible, up half al
D ounce of white soap and add to tn
s onion Juice, two ounces of Fuller
earth and half a pint of vinegar. Bol
r these ingredients together When COO
spread on the scorched linen, tneI
wash and boil as in ordinary washing