ARG! Laundry woes. HELP!

[Lauren]

I did something so wretched I could kick myself. My husband got me some lovely 20s house dresses and when I did the hand wash cycle on the machine to get out the stink I managed to turn one pink! Not all over pink, but more "tye dye". Now, I know this was popular in the 20s, but its definitely not the look I'm going for. It's a good, sturdy, mid west cotton. Does anyone have any tips on turning it back white? It's got a tiny red circle print on it. Has anyone tried RIT's Dye Remover? :cry: :cry: :cry:

 

[pdxvintagette]

I would try Shout Color Catchers first, for sure. That Rit stuff is serious business, and you'll ruin the print completely. Or likely will, at least.

Now, I don't always take my own advice, but I will tell you - hand wash on the washer is NOT like handwash in a bucket. For the really old cotton stuff, nothing compares to getting your hands wet and carefully doing it yourself. Especially because you will see IMMEDIATELY if things start to go wrong.

 

[KittyT]

Lauren, I ruined 2 vintage dresses awhile back by soaking them in Oxyclean together. Somewhere here, there is a thread I started here about removing dye, but for the life of me, I can't find it.

EDIT: found it! It's not about removing dye, per se, but about vintage stuff that you've ruined. There are, however, some recommendations in there for fixing it. The one I'm seeing is Carbona Dye Remover. http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=34109

 

[Lauren]

Thank you so much, Ladies! I haven't done something like this in YEARS, and never with anything vintage. Yeah, I usually hand wash in buckets/bowls if it's smaller stuff, but I was having a really stupid moment. I'll try out the suggestions. It's embarrassing to even admit it happened, but I want to save the little house dress. Thank you!

KittyT, Thanks for the thread. Did the BIZ soak work for you? I have some of that in the laundry room. This is my first bad incident with Oxyclean I think maybe I'll have to use it only on whites now.

 

[zetwal]

Ouch! we should have a special thread for this sort of thing. I think we'd get fresh entries daily.

 

[KittyT]

KittyT, Thanks for the thread. Did the BIZ soak work for you? I have some of that in the laundry room. This is my first bad incident with Oxyclean I think maybe I'll have to use it only on whites now.

I never did get to try the Biz. Those 2 dresses have been sitting over a chair in my kitchen for like a year waiting to be salvaged. I just don't have the patience I don't think.

 

[KittyT]

Ouch! we should have a special thread for this sort of thing. I think we'd get fresh entries daily.

The thread I posted the link to earlier is just that - a place to post about vintage stuff you've ruined. It never caught on.