Laundry day

Saturday, March 17, 2012

This is a laundry and fabric care post. If you have no interest in fabric or laundry, you may skip past this post now. I am by no means a laundry whiz. I don't love ironing or folding clothes, but I worked in a theater costume shop for 3 years, and after doing hundreds of loads of laundry, it only seems appropriate to share a few things I learned.

1. Cold water is usually the answer (washing things in cold water keeps your clothing from shrinking, and prevents stains from setting).
2. Fels-naptha soap can get almost anything out, and works especially well on makeup.
3. Blood comes out best with cold water and soap. Hot water will set your stain.
4. Name brand laundry soap really is the best, especially if you are doing HUGE loads of laundry. (I don't use it, but I know that liquid name brand leave your clothes smelling amazing and looking great.)
5. Dawn dish soap works wonders on oil based stains.
6. A small, soft-bristle brush can help get out tough stains.
7. A 1/2 cup of vinegar with your load of black or dark clothing helps set the color.
8. Powder deodorant marks (from pulling your shirt over your head) come out best with a dry towel.
9. Test iron your fabric on a low setting before turning up the heat. Many synthetic fabrics will melt if the heat is too high. If it doesn't melt a hole, it might leave a not-so-pretty iron imprint on the fabric. A press cloth (a thin towel or scrap of muslin) placed over your garment when ironing can prevent melting and burning.
10. Spray 'n' Wash is an incredible product that gets out most stains.

1 comment

  1. This is great! Thank you! I need to try that vinegar with the darks, especially jeans. I feel like they fade so fast!

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