Fabric From The Attic

I had the coolest new red shirt. I lie. It was a hand-me-down. Want to know why it was a hand-me-down? After I wore it the first time my white under shirt was very pink in some places. (No wonder they wanted to get rid of it. It makes me very suspicious of nice, pretty clothing and its owners giving it away for practically nothing.) My fancy shirt was now placed on hold.

Then I decided to use “the vinegar trick.” (Dun dun dun!!) After soaking my shirt it didn’t dye my underclothes so much. (I say “so much” because some of them are pink—but I think it is from the first few usages of the shirt.)

Here is “the Vinegar Trick.”

This is like when you have a shirt that you have to wash all by itself because it gets everything else red!! Well, you might still want to wash it with only red things, (or whatever color it is), but soaking the clothing in vinegar will “stay the dye” to a very helpful degree. I soaked my red shirt in pure vinegar overnight. But years ago I did a smaller amount of vinegar to an amount of water and it worked on my red shorts. I think white and apple cider vinegars both work.

1. Get an ice cream bucket or bowl
2. Put your clothing article in it
3. Add vinegar until the whole thing can sit in wetness. (Vinegar and water work, too.)
4. Leave over night.

Do you know a laundering tip? Put it in the comments below and I’ll publish it.

Okay. I’m gonna let you in a little personal here . . . be nice about it. This is me, up close and personal. Feel privileged. Okay, so my sister has always had this special sense for me. And that isn’t necessarily a good thing. (Well, in the long run, I suppose it is.) She detected in my clothing a special aroma that was non-existent to me. Okay, I’ll be blunt. My shirts and dresses “stunk” to her and she didn’t want to borrow them. I think they had the problem even after I washed them. Somewhere I got the idea to use baking soda. Ah, baking soda, the all-around fix it friend next to vinegar.

Body Odor

Put baking soda on the smelly parts of your clothes before laundering. For example, wet the underarms of a shirt or dress, sprinkle on the baking soda and grind it together between the fabric. It works really well.

What about you? What do you do special with your laundry? Put it in the comments and I’ll upload it.