Question

What is the method employed to wash cotton garments?

Answer 1

1. Washing: Cotton and linen garments are strong fabrics and become stronger when wet. If they are heavily soiled, they can be washed by scrubbing on the board. Rough clothes like aprons, towels, and dusters can be scrubbed with a brush. All the clothes can be placed in boiling water. Alternatively, they can also be washed in the washing machine. Friction, rubbing, and scrubbing are the methods that can clean them conveniently and quickly.
2. Rinsing: Rinsing the clothes two or three times in clear tap water after scrubbing them is very important. This is done by dousing each garment up and down separately many times till soap-less water is obtained in the last rinse. Bleeding of colour in cotton and linen can be prevented by boiling them in salt water.
3. Drying: White clothes can be dried on a clothes line in the sun in a balcony or terrace area. Coloured clothes should be turned inside out before drying in the sun; otherwise, their colour will fade soon. Salwars and pyjamas should be spread to their full width. Shirts and kurtas should be dried on hangers. Sarees and bedsheets should be hung after straightening their edges. And trousers should be hung folded on the clothes line for drying.
4. Ironing: Cotton and linen fabrics should be ironed while they are damp. If they become fully dry, water will have to be sprinkled on them to moisten them to get good results of ironing. For starched clothes, it is preferable to iron them when they· are still damp. The ironing temperature for cotton is 400°F, and for linens is 450°F.
5. Starching and Blueing: It saves time, energy, and material if these two operations are combined. Blueing must be done only on white fabrics.