Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-18
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.
By Laura A. hirkmAn.
DOING YOUR OWN DRY CLEANING.

81 was careless enough to put away my
,,,;-tor clothes last spring, without clean
- thern writes a reader friend, and |
todav when | got some of them out oil the |
ATTIC trunks, to separate the cnan iroIi
the wheat in LAYING plans for my iall ward
rohe | find that even those garments
which thought would be on the wheat
side are on the 'chaf side-unless l can
clean them perfectly at home Ny fochet-
book will not permit me to send tnifgs 70 .
professional cleaner s. Gan you heip niI.
/ have dark cloth dress which Is paals
sno,ted and shiny in the back: dark plue
oro-r,;ece crene-de chine dress which has
rotted in the sleeves near the armhole De
cause 7 allowed perspiration marks to re-
main in the fabric all summer; ana a a
chiffon evening dress of blue. Please tel
me how 10 90 about cleaning these thlngs-
7 am sure other women must be faced py
the same problem and would also IKE 10
hear YOUR answer. -
Wonders NAV be wrought with ssit ana
| gasoline In the cleaning OF such garments
| ss yours. and YOU should go about the
| task in the following way
Go over the cloth dress with a clothes
| brush to get it free from dust, then ias IL
! fat on a table first cover the table Win
| sheets so that the friction may not oe 50
sharp as to injure the surface oil the ma
| teriaD and sprinkle thln layer OF sait
over the garment. Tins salt must presi-
ouslv have been crushed with roiiing pm
1 and put through fine sieve; use ABOUT a
quart for your dress. WIN d soit paa
- Of a mans linen handkerchief, rub
| the salt we'll into the garment, using long,
| sxeeping strokes the downward way OF the
| gorrnent-never in circles or across. Go
| over the entire garment In this way, CIV
ing the most soiled portions second rub
hing with the salt, then slip the dress on a
coat hanger and brush out the salt with a
| clothes brush. Put newspapers on the
| floor beneath the garment. In brushing, to
receive the soiled salt. Remove spots with
oasol' ne applied with clean cloth. Go
over the worn, shiny portions with cloth
| dinned in ammonia and water and, just
bSore drv. press with a warm iron. If
shininess still remains, rub gently with
fine sandpaper. =.
To clean a crepe-de-chine dress, IT Is
wisest to separate waist and SKIRT, as part
of it may become dry before the remaining
nortion can be cleaned. Dip waist and
skirt into a basin of gasoline and shake it
out well then lay it at once on marble
tonped table or porcelain-topped table
and 90 over the badly-spotted portions
with fresh gasoline and cloth. Finish by
diuDing the entire garment into a fresh
basin OF gasoline and hang it in the air to
drv without squeezing or wringing. Leave
il in the air at least three hours, then
press it with as hot an iron as the texture
Of the fabric will permit. (The heat of the
iron removes all traces of the odor). Put
Georgette crepe sleeves in the dress in
stead of the sleeves now In 1T.
Chiffon garments that will not stand
rubbing must be cleaned by being inn
mersed in basin Of gasoline for one hour.
They should then be very gently removed,
SO as not to disturb the dirt that will have
settled in the bottom of the basin. Zip in
clean gasoline and hang up to dry before
pressing.
All inquiries addressed to Miss Kirk
man in care Of the Efficient Housekeep-
ing" department will be answered in these
columns in their turn. This requires con.
siderable time, however, owing to the
great number received. So if personal ol
quicker reply is desired, a stamped ane
self-addressed envelope must be enclosed
with the question.-The Editor.