Various Methods of Marking Linen-ink versus Cotton Marking - Weekly Allowances for a

Household - Disinfecting of Linen During Illness

Marking Of Linen

All household linen should be distinctly marked with the initials or name of the head of the household, the number of the set to which it belongs, and the date at which it was purchased, thus: "S. Brown, I. 16.9.11." The mark is generally placed at the top left-hand corner of the article, or where it will show most plainly when folded after ironing.

There are various methods of marking, and the mode chosen will depend very much upon individual taste, and also upon the time at disposal for doing it.

The rough-and-ready means of marking with ink is by no means ornamental, and our grandmothers would have scorned such a procedure, but in our day it has often to be resorted to for want of time to do better. Often the linendraper from whom the goods are bought will mark the things neatly in ink, without any extra charge.

Marking With Ink

It is generally best to have the linen washed before marking it with ink, especially if it has a good deal of dressing in it, otherwise the ink does not take a sufficient hold of the material, but is apt to disappear with the first washing. good make of ink should be bought, and a quill or specially prepared pen used that will not corrode, as the use of an ordinary steel pen is frequently the cause of the ink burning a hole in the fabric. The material should be stretched tightly over a piece of smooth wood, or a small frame made for the purpose, and then held tightly.

Well shake the ink before commencing, and take very little on the point of the pen. The letters should be made small and legible, and should all rest upon one particular thread of the material. They should be formed as far as possible with down strokes, care being taken to avoid blots, which would destroy the article irremediably. After marking, the linen ought to be left exposed to the air until the ink is quite black. With some makes of marking-ink the heat of an iron or a fire is recommended, but if the articles can be placed in the sun or even left in a warm atmosphere, it is to be preferred. Ironing over a dry material frequently leads to scorching. The linen should not be washed for at least twenty-four hours after marking.

To Mark With Cotton

Marking with cotton is to be preferred, as there is something very disfiguring about ink, and although quite suitable for kitchen towels, and permissible on sheets and pillowcases, ink-marking is unsightly on pretty table-linen.

Special cotton for marking should be bought either in skeins or reels. Its thickness will depend upon the kind of material to be worked upon. Either blue or red ingrain cotton may be used for the marking of bed-linen, but table-linen is better marked in white.

There are several different stitches which can be used for marking, some simple, and others more complicated and ornamental.

The simplest kind of marking is by means of cross stitch, forming small crosses in the shape of the letters on the right side of the material and an irregular stitch on the wrong.

The easiest method of forming the letters is to tack a piece of Java canvas, or single-thread canvas, over the material, and to sew the letters on that. The threads of the canvas can easily be drawn out when the marking is finished. A sampler should be followed for the formation of the letters. On no account must knots be made. An inch of the cotton should be left on the wrong side, to begin with, and this can be darned in when the work is finished. The cotton must be finished off by running the needle under the last two or three stitches. Each letter should be complete in itself, and be finished off before another is commenced; on no account must the cotton be passed from one letter to the other. The stitches must all be crossed the one way.

There is a more elaborate form of cross-stitch marking, which consists in producing a cross on the wrong side as well as on the right. Very fine cotton must be used or the letters will have a very lumpy appearance, but as this stitch is a more or less complicated one, it is not often used.

Another simple form of marking is to chainstitch a pencilled outline. The letters may either be traced or drawn on the material; if the latter, care must be taken to form good curves and to have all the letters one size, and resting upon one thread of the material.

Many other fancy stitches may be used for embroidering the letters, more or less elaborate, and to suit individual taste. Another method is to buy the raised paper letters, which can be had in different designs, to sew them in position, and then embroider over. If there is any difficulty about tracing or drawing the letters, this is a very good plan to adopt.

Weekly Allowance Of Linen

It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule for this, because although it is always pleasant to have a plentiful supply of clean linen, and an effort should certainly be made to provide it, still the income must be taken into consideration, and the amount of washing modified where necessary.

In the case of table-linen the supply will depend somewhat upon the arrangement of the meals, and also upon individual circumstances. If a different cloth is used for each meal, perhaps one of each kind will be sufficient for a week, but where the same cloth is used generally for all meals, two a week is the minimum. The tablecloth has so much to do with the success of the meal, and is so much noticed, that it should never be allowed to become too dirty or crushed.

Serviettes should be changed twice a week at least.

While on the subject of clean table-linen, it should be noted that tablecloths will keep much longer clean and look better if great care is taken in the folding and laying away.

Bed-linen should be changed as frequently as possible, in order that the health of the household may be maintained. Some people can manage to give a change of sheets each week, which is, of course, the best plan, but where this cannot be done there should be a complete change every fortnight, or, if more convenient, one fresh sheet each week, the top sheet always taking the place of the under one which is removed. Pillow-cases also should be changed weekly or fortnightly.

Towels should be allowed in the proportion of two or three a week, at least, for each person, but this, too, is very much a matter of individual requirements.

When there is an infectious disease in the house it is very important that all linen used by the sick person be disinfected at once, and before it comes in contact with the linen of healthy people.

Disinfecting Of Linen

The object of disinfecting is to destroy or render harmless the germs and spores of disease; and this must be done if possible without destroying the fabric.

There are different methods of disinfecting, such as exposure to steam for a lengthened period, repeated boiling (boiling once will destroy some germs, but not all the spores), boiling in soap and water and then exposure to sunshine for several days, and the use of various chemical solutions.

For home purposes, perhaps one of the simplest and most efficient means of disinfecting is to soak the linen in a solution of carbolic acid. One part of prepared carbolic and twenty parts of water will be sufficiently strong. The solution does not require to be in sufficient quantity to cover whatever is being disinfected; if the fluid is soaked up it is all that is necessary. At the end of an hour even the most persistent germs and spores ought to be destroyed, and the linen may be rinsed and washed in the usual way.

Care must be taken in using carbolic, as it is a very strong corrosive, and, if it touches the hands in a pure state, will burn very badly. It is a good plan to rub the hands with glycerine before wringing the articles out of the solution.