The Yale expositor., 1906-10-26
FOR STORING LINEN
CLOSET EASILY THE BEST OF ALL
REcEPTAcLEs.
Care In Arrangement and Laying
Away Of Freshly Washed and
lroned Linen viii Well Re-
pay the Housewife.


Freshly washed and ironed linen Is
so attractive in itself that II deserves
to be stored for use in as neat and
pleasing a manner as possible. The
past generation of housekeepers took
great pride in its roomy, princely kept
linen closets, says Grace Campbell
Moore in the Washington Star.
A closet, rather than a box couch,
sideboard or other makeshift recepta-
Gle so often used for the purpose,
should be devoted to this use, IL one
can possibly be spared. 1t should be
lined with shelves set in IS inches
apart. The broader the shelf. the bet
ter, until it is Is inches wide. That is
ample for any arrangement of linen
that may be adopted for laying 1t
away.
The beauty of a closet of linen
s.arched on shelves lies In the fashion
of stacking and in the arrangement of
the piles. Sheets, spreads and table
cloths should be folded into long
rather than square parcel. Sheets, in
particular, are often laid away in the
square form, when last crease might
be avoided and the sheets be as con-
veniently and economically slowed
away In their allotted space IL the last
fold had been omitted. Pillow cases
are folded first into three. lengthwise,
and that length is then folded in the
middle and yet again in the middle.
Napkins are treated in the same way.
The first principle of putting away
linen is to fold evenly, edge to edge,
and then, as each piece is folded, to
see that it has been made into an ex-
act parcel. Stack all the articles of a
kind together, but in not too high
piles, IL there is space enough for sew
eral stacks of kind. Do not lay the
piles parallel with the edge of the
shelf and at right angles to it, but
diagonally across it.
If it were sheets that were being
thus put away, the first would be
laid in the diagonal position, with the
long fold of the parcel toward the
front and the edges of the sheet di-
agonally to the wall. This brings
forward conspicuously corner of the
parcel. Across this corner the next
sheet in the pile is laid. Every
sheet parcel will be found to have
two sides made of folds and two that
show edges. The fold sides always
face front and the edge sides the
wall. One folded side is long and
the other short, the latter being in
reality an end of the parcel. 1t is this
short fold or end that is laid across
the corner so that the under sheet
projects in a point. The third sheet
is laid on exactly over the first one,
and in this alternating fashion the
stack is raised as high as desired.
Blankets, which have their place in
the closets, too, require special fold
ing to look their best. A family's
stock of these coverings usually is
made of a heterogeneous collection
of borders, blue for this room, per-
haps, and yellow for that or pink, be-
cause some one happened TO make
a present of pink bordered blankets.
To stack them so that this rainbow
combination of hues shows will not
present the blankets at their best
appearance, and such placing takes
away from the neat appearance of the
linen closet Fold them, therefore,
so that none of the borders are in
view. To do this fold first end to
end, bringing the stripes together.
then turn the ends back to the field
so that the blanket lies in a long
parcel. Take the two ends of this
and bring them toward one another,
but leave a space of two or three
inches. The space makes hinge on
which to fold the blanket once more.
1t now lies in a parcel more nearly
square than long. This is rather a
departure from the shape suggested,
but is the only form into which a
blanket can be folded and not show
its colors. Laid on the topmost shelf,
where blankets belong. because they
are more rarely undisturbed than the
rest of the bedding, their square
shape will not interfere with the uni.
form appearance of the closet.