I mentioned my muddy socks the other day, and the suggestions for cleaning mud from items at the end of my 1920’s/30’s Modern Practical Cookery.. We tend to think of marks on clothes as marks and just throw them into the wash with our modern detergents. There are products for specific stains, for example Dr Beckmann’s have over forty remedies for “red wine, curry, pasta sauce, pen ink, butter, cooking oil, fat, fruit juice, berries… plus many more”. Could Modern Practical Cookery compete?
- alcohol
- blood
- candle-grease
- chocolate
- coffee
- creosote on cotton
- creosote on tweed
- custard
- dye stains on white materials
- dye stains on coloured silk
- fingermarks
- fruit
- ginger wine
- grass
- ice cream
- ironmould
- ink
- red ink
- marking ink
- jam
- the inside of a grubby handbag
- sea water
- grease
- grease on brown leather shoes
- mildew
- milk
- moss
- mud stains on velveteen
- mud stains on silk
- oil
- oxidised door handles
- paint
- paraffin
- perspiration
- port wine
- rainspots – not on roses but on velour
- rainspots on velvet
- rainspots on satin
- rain marks on lizard shoes
- scorches
- scorch marks on silk
- sea water
- sea water on coloured stockinette material
- shine (remove it by brushing, apparently)
- soot
- tarnish
- tar
- tea
- tea stains on mahogany
- transfer marks
- verdigris
- vinegar
- water
- hot water stains
Who could possibly imagine so many different difficulties for an early twentieth century housewife!
By the way, the insides of those grubby leather handbags – “if lined with smooth leather, could be painted with leather stain to get rid of the marks. If the lining is of material it could either be washed or a new lining put in.”
Lois Elsden 