To freshen crêpe for mourning millinery—
Brush the crêpe with a fine brush to remove the dust. Clean in gasoline
if necessary. Crêpe may be made to look like new if pinned down smoothly
and evenly on a padded surface, a damp cloth placed over it, then a hot
iron passed over it without touching it, but near enough so that a
slight amount of steam will dampen the crêpe. Remove the cloth and allow
the crêpe to dry in place. Crêpe becomes shabby-looking quickly if not
given the best of care.
Cleaning, curling, and tinting feathers—
To clean, immerse the feather in gasoline to which has been added a few
spoonfuls of cornmeal. Draw the feather through the hands several times
until it is clean; rinse in clear gasoline and shake in the fresh air
till dry. A very light-colored or white feather may be tinted by
dissolving some oil paint in the gasoline used for rinsing.
To curl, draw the flues, a very few at a time, over a blunt knife. A
plume is rather difficult to sew on a hat and produce the desired
effect. The end of the quill may be sewed very firmly to the hat, while
the tip of the plume should not be sewed close to the hat, otherwise it
will look stiff.
