Fabric Care

Some of these cleaning tips have been taken from The Vogue Sewing Book and a paperback gem called The Maytag Encyclopedia of Laundry. (Scan the bibliography for more details.)

Note: The Maytag book may be difficult to find. The edition I have cost me $1.25 but this may no longer be true. Anyway, for details, write to:

Consumer Information Center,
The Maytag Company,
Newton, IA, 50208, USA.

And if it's not in this list, don't spill anything on it.

Fabrics

Patent Leather

To clean and polish patent leather - rub on petroleum jelly (Vaseline) with fingers, then buff with a soft cloth.

Crinkled Silk

That crinkled silk skirt that you're afraid of washing. Wash it in cold water, minimum wash, gentle cycle. While still wet, lay the garment in a towel and twist it, then tie the whole thing in a knot. Check on it after 24 hours. If it's still wet, repeat the process.

Velvet

It is strongly recommended that you do not attempt to clean velvet at home. Take it to the dry cleaners. Pressing velvet can leave it flat and shiny. If you absolutely must press velvet, lay a terry towel on the ironing board, and place the garment with the pile of the velvet down, against the towel, and press on the wrong side with a dry iron.

Stains

Alcoholic Beverages

Soak in cold water, wash in warm sudsy water, rinse. If stain remains, soak silk, wool or coloured items in 2 tablespoons hydrogen peroxide to 1 gallon of water for 30 minutes and rinse thoroughly. Soak white linen, rayon and cotton for 15 minutes in 1 tablespoon household bleach to 1 quart of water, rinse thoroughly.

Dry-cleanable items should be sponged with water or hydrogen peroxide or dusted with an absorbent, like cornstarch or talcum powder.

Ballpoint Pen

Place a clean dry towel under fabric. Drip home dry-cleaning solvent through spot. Soak in solution of detergent and warm water. Rinse in cold water. Use mild bleach, but test fabric first.

For dry-cleanable items, at dry cleaners point out the stain and tell them it was done with a ballpoint.

Blood

Soak in luke-warm water and detergent. If a yellow stain remains, apply a laundry bleach. For stubborn stains, apply a few drops of ammonia.

Treat dry-cleanable items with cold water to which table salt has been added (1 ounce per quart of water). Salt helps prevent colour bleeding. Rinse and blot with towel. Try warm water and hydrogen peroxide to remove final traces.

Candy

Wash as usual.

Dry-cleanable items, sponge with cold weater.

Chewing Gum

Apply ice and remove gum from surface with a dull knife. Soak affected part in cleaning fluid.

Dry-cleanable items. Same as above.

Chocolate

Rinse in luke warm water. If brown stain remains, apply a laundry bleach. For sturdy fabrics, pour boiling water through fabric over a bowl.

Dry-cleanable items. If colourfast, sponge with luke warm water. Otherwise, take the garment to the dry cleaners.

Coffee or Tea

If safe, pour boiling water through spot from a height of 12 inches or soak in a safe bleach.

Dry-cleanable items. Sponge first with cool water, with a towel underneath to absorb the moisture. If needed, rub in a small amount of detergent, and rinse. Sponging with alcohol will help to remove the detergent and dry the garment more quickly.

Cosmetics

Pretreat with detergent, rubbing into spot. Wash as normal. Dry-cleanable items: use greasy stain solvent . Dry Clean.

Ink

To remove ink, spray hairspray onto the ink spot, and let it soak for 30 minutes, then machine wash as normal.

Mildew

Do not use this on delicate materials, or unbleachable fabrics. Two tablespoons of bleach in one quarter tablespoon of water will remove mildew.

Unknown Stains

Try this for unknown stains: first wash as normal, do not dry. Put lemon juice on the stain and rub in salt. Rinse, do not tumble dry, but dry in the sun.