Domestic / Household

Hemming Linen

When turning a hem on linen keep a glass of warm water at hand and dip the fingers into it frequently. The stiffness of the heavy linen will yield and the work may be accomplished much more quickly and accurately. Read more......

For clearing the lawns of dandelions plantains and other weeds use a potato peeler, the apple corer type. One scoop and they come out root and all. Miss H. MacGregor, Sutherland Cottage, Keir Street, Dunblane.

A little vinegar added to the water used for washing floors softens the water and prevents a scum forming. This makes easy cleaning and the floors are easier to polish. A little vinegar used in the water for cleaning windows will make the dirt come off more easily and help to keep the flies away. Mrs L. Davie, Melville, Insch, Aberdeenshire.

We cannot afford to waste food these days, so when you come on stale buns or bread in the cupboard here is a way of making them as good as new. Brush the buns with milk and heat in the oven. Dip a loaf of stale bread in water and place on a baking tray and warm in the oven. This should be done just before serving. Read more......

A pair of soiled suede gloves can be improved by heating some quite dry flour and rubbing it well into them while on the hands, with a piece of clean flannel. Grease marks will disappear under a treatment of benzine and gentle rubbing with fine sand paper.

A good method of keeping butter cool where ice is not obtainable is to place it in a dish inside an old, clean flowerpot. The pot should stand in a basin of water and clean damp thrown over it. The ends of the cloth resting in the water keeps it always full of moisture and the butter will be found as firm as if it were presented on ice. Read more......

When shoe polish is hard and lumpy, pour in a little vinegar and leave to soak for about an hour.

Add a few drops of lemon juice when you boil a cauliflower. This takes away the smell and keeps the vegetable white. Read more......

If the slide fastener in a purse sticks, take a lead pencil and rub it up and down on the fastener a number of times, then the purse opens.

The best way to clean tin, iron, or enamel pots or pans in which food has burned is to fill with cold water, add a tablespoonful or two of washing soda, heat slowly, and allow to boil for 5 or 10 minutes. The burned-on food can then easily be removed.