Helpful Hints from Make Do and Mend:
Back in the 1940’s, a little booklet known as Make Do and Mend was widely distributed and shred a variety of tips, hints and information on how to make your clothes, garments and house hold objects last as long as they can. This booklet shared information about avoiding moths, how to store your clothes, how to reinforce your garments and how to make your clothes last. Today, this booklet is still a great means of sharing how to mend your vintage items as well as a unique glimpse into the past right before the end of WW2. In today’s society, we are so fast to throw out our clothes and the skill of caring for your garments is becoming lost. To combat this, I wanted to share some of the great tips from the past so we can better look after our garments and make them last for years to come. Today, I wanted to share some washing and ironing hints from 1943.
Please note: these are the official tips and hints given from the Make Do and Mend Booklet; given their age (published 1943), it is worth noting that some hints may be outdated (such as the need to remove your garments hems) and also, the use of soap flakes for laundry is no longer popular. These tips are more to enjoy as a glimpse into the past and should be read with an air of caution.
General Tips
1. Collect as many clothes of the same material as you can to wash together to save soap.
2. Wash the least dirty things first. Separate any very badly-soiled clothes, such as workmen’s overalls, and wash them by themselves.
3. Don’t attempt to wash at the same time articles of different materials requiring different treatments
4. Never wash coloured articles with white ones; wash the same colours together.
5. If you are not sure that colour is fast, wash as quickly as possible, keeping the article on the move in the water all the time, and dry it well away from other things.
6. Unpick hems of dresses before washing in order to allow for shrinkage and to prevent the old stitches and hem forming lines that cannot be pressed out.
7. Never dry coloured materials in strong sunlight as it bleaches them when they are wet
8. It is not safe to leave any articles bunched together when wet. This is especially true of coloured things and rayons; the former may run, and the latter gets creases that are hard to remove.
9. Remove any fastenings which are likely to tear the garments or to leave rusty marks.
10. Look in pockets for metal objects, coloured handkerchiefs and any other articles which may have been forgotten. Shake out all the dust. Remove all shoulder pads.
11. If you are uncertain whether a material will wash well, and have no spare piece to test, tie a piece of tape firmly round one corner of the least conspicuous part. Wash in warm soapy water, remove the tape and iron according to instructions for that particular material. You will at once see whether the colour runs or the fabric is likely to be spoilt in any other way.
12. If any atricle is of mixed materials, wash and iron it as instructed for the most delicate fabric.
13. Never leave damp clothes for days wrapped up before ironing them. The whole process of washing and ironing should be done in the shortest possible time.
Soap – Saving Ideas
1. Use soft water or rain water wherever possible. Water can be softened with a few drops of household ammonia.
2. Save all scraps of soap left in soap dishes and when you have, say, half a pint, add half a pint of boiling water. Add, when cold, to washing water.
3. If you have no soap flakes, shred soap finely into boiling water, and then add enough cold water for your purpose.
4. Put very dirty clothes to soak in semi-dirty water left over from washing and rinsing lightly soiled ones.
Personally, I do not see myself removing hems, shoulder pads or fastenings every time I want to do my laundry but some of these tips do come in handy today. It’s of course worth noting that washing machines didn’t really become popular in households until the 1950’s which means, these tips are designed to be used when hand washing. Most household washing machines today will have various delicate/hand washing functions which work great for vintage clothing. Do you see yourself adopting any of these tips for your own future laundry days?
Interested in more retro laundry tips? Check out these other blogs!
Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. This page contains affiliate links/codes which aids in funding future reviews.