- Salvage discolored whites
Don’t get rid of drab and dingy whites just yet: dissolve 1 teaspoon cream of tartar in cold water in a clean plastic washing-up bowl or sink, and soak the garment for a few hours before washing. (This is also a great way to restore old handkerchiefs.) To whiten yellowed clothes, soak the items overnight in a solution of 1/2 cup (125ml) white vinegar and 1.5 litres warm water before washing.
- Restore crispness to lace
If you have a lace scarf or shawl that’s gone limp, wash it as you normally would and then dip it in a solution of 9 litres warm water and 1/2 cup (90g) Epsom salts. The salts will cling to the fibres and add body.
- No-snag, soapy thread
When you’re sewing on a button and the thread tangles or knots it can be hugely frustrating. To stop it happening, run the thread lightly over a bar of soap before you begin sewing. The waxy coating will make thread easier to untangle and unknot.
- Rethread a drawstring
If a drawstring has come out of a hood or pyjama trousers, attach a safety pin to one end of the string and use the closed pin to push the string back along the tunnel of fabric.
- Use marbles to help mend gloves
Drop a marble into the fingertip of a glove that needs mending so that you’ll have a stretched, smooth surface on which to sew. Mend the toes and heels of socks in the same way, using a tennis ball or billiard ball.
- A sewing kit in a film canister
If a button falls off your blouse while you’re en route to an appointment, you can make sure you’re prepared. Store everything you need in a plastic film canister in your handbag — a few shirt buttons, a set of sewing needles still stuck in their cardboard holder, thread and a variety of different-sized safety pins.
Credit: Reader’s Digest
Picture credit: Google
