The sun is out, the birds are chirping happily in their nests and the children have gone off to school. Every Mothers dream ! A morning coffee and a quick look at the newspaper and it's time for domestic goddess duties ! Housework isn't our most favourite thing to do but it must be done.
Think back to our women ancestors who made do with washboards and scrubbing brushes to wash the clothes each week. Imagine having to boil the old coppa to wash the clothes in and scrubbing the clothes worn by our grubby little boys....No thanks ! I think we are quite spoilt these days by modern technology. I still remember my Grandmother's old washing machine, it still had the old wringer attachment that she had to manually feed the clothes through to wring the water out.
I can really appreciate the hard work done by these women and being an avid lace collector and owner of antique linens, their washing days must have been exhausting. The beautiful marcella quilts I love to have on our bed would have been so heavy to hang on the clothesline. Something I often use whilst ironing my antique linens is some scented linen water. The smell of rose water on freshly ironed pillowcases is beautiful.
In Victorian times the women would drape their used tea towels over a lavender hedge in the warm sun to dry. The natural oils in the lavender would help to kill the germs and the scent would remain in the tea towel and smell pretty. Babies cloth nappies were hung out overnight and the moonlight would bleach the stains away. Try washing your linens in soap flakes disolved in hot water, the smell is so fresh and for those who are allergic it is more gentle on the skin without all of those harsh additives. Adding a few drops of lavender oil to your rinse cycle of your towels will also leave a pretty fragrance.
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