Cleaning a white linen suit...

[mike]

So I am the proud new owner of this somewhat lived in, 1930's (?) Irish white linen double breasted suit:

Any opinions on the best way to attempt to clean this?! I'm -hoping- it will be presentable enough to wear to my cousin's afternoon outdoor wedding next month.

thanks!

 

[tonyb]

I have no particular expertise in this matter, Mike, but a quick Google search ("cleaning linen") kinda indicates that it ain't all that daunting.

For whatever it's worth, I have cleaned persistent stains from old wool garments using gentle cleaners in cold water. Sometimes you just gotta be persistent, and patient. Old stains may fade away quite gradually with each trip to the wash basin (or bath tub or whatever). Such has been my experience, anyway.

I suspect that you're less likely to have disastrous results attempting to clean linen (as opposed to wool or silk, say), what with it being a plant (as opposed to animal) fiber. Whatever you do, though, going slow and easy, erring on the side of caution, would seem prudent. In other words, cool water temperatures, mild cleaning agents (and spot testing them first, of course) air drying and overall gentle handling.

Cool suit, by the way. Here's hoping you can make it fit for wearing to that wedding.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

First: Use a better digital camera - 10mp or more

Second: Use photoshop to clone the clean white areas
and paste them in to the dirty areas.

Third: Repost the pictures through PhotoBucket onto the FL

Viola! Old white suite looks clean and new! lol

-dixon cannon

 

[Maguire]

I just got a new white linen suit myself (from ebay) and its grand, but i'm quite paranoid about dirt and stains myself. I'll try to see what i can dig up myself on this matter.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Since it's vintage and it's for a special family ocassion, I'd definitely take it to the cleaners. They'll know what works best for the particular type of stain.

But that said, and I wanted to save some money and go the do it yourself route, I'd probably try soaking it overnight in Oxyclean. It's really good at getting yellowing or food stains out of most fabrics. I believe silk is the only fabric that should never go into Oxyclean, and I also know you never mix bleach and Oxyclean in the same washer load, but I don't think linen is one of the "no-nos" as far as Oxyclean goes.

I've mentioned it before, but we had a tux shirt that accidentally got into a load with some bleach and the placket and collar turned yellow from a reaction with the interfacing inside. We tried everything we could think of, the dry cleaner tried everything they could think of and nothing worked. It was a pricey Nordstrom tux shirt in a style they only made one year that sold out fast (clue phone ringin' off the hook to make em again, Nordies!), so it wasn't "Just go buy a new shirt..." But overnight in Oxyclean and it came out perfect. It's also worked on decades-old stains on some old family tableclothes and the like.

 

[thunderw21]

One thing my mom does with her old stained linen tableclothes is to spread them out (carefully) on the grass on a sunny day and let them sit there for several hours. Somehow very old and stubborn stains come out. I have no idea how it works, but it does.

 

[tonyb]

I've read that "lay 'em out on the grass in sunshine" tip from a couple of online sources, too. Had me scratching my head, but whadda I know.

I'd expect a professional cleaner to offer the standard "no guarantees" response, seeing how it is indeed a vintage garment and that the stains may well be of considerable seniority also. Can't blame 'em for that. This is not to say that you shouldn't consult a competent, conscientious cleaner. I've taken once-stained garments to the cleaner after I did about all I figured I could do on my own, and after getting one of those "no guarantees" on my initial inquiry.

My understanding is that OxiClean is not for use on protein (animal) fibers, but it oughta be fine to use on linen.

 

[mike]

First: Use a better digital camera - 10mp or more

Second: Use photoshop to clone the clean white areas
and paste them in to the dirty areas.

Third: Repost the pictures through PhotoBucket onto the FL

Viola! Old white suite looks clean and new! lol

-dixon cannon

oooh a wise guy huh?! lol

 

[mike]

I've read that "lay 'em out on the grass in sunshine" tip from a couple of online sources, too. Had me scratching my head, but whadda I know.

I'd expect a professional cleaner to offer the standard "no guarantees" response, seeing how it is indeed a vintage garment and that the stains may well be of considerable seniority also. Can't blame 'em for that. This is not to say that you shouldn't consult a competent, conscientious cleaner. I've taken once-stained garments to the cleaner after I did about all I figured I could do on my own, and after getting one of those "no guarantees" on my initial inquiry.

My understanding is that OxiClean is not for use on protein (animal) fibers, but it oughta be fine to use on linen.

I have a pair of cream flannel trousers that had yellow stains near the outer cuff. I took them to the dry cleaners and they couldn't get them out. I then soaked the affected area in oxiclean for 6 hours, washed, air dryed and then had them dry cleaned (mainly just to have them pressed) and now they look good as new!

I just want to make sure that oxiclean is the way to go with vintage linen [huh] I believe I will let the waist out and then submerge the entire suit in the sink for the afternoon..... gulp.

 

[Fletch]

My Banana Republic linen ice cream suit* had various dry-cleaner inspired rings and bleach-out spots**.
I finally washed it in a cold splashtub with a long soak in Imus GTC detergent (an all natural product and a damn fine one). That brought the spots down to a barely visible minimum. I no longer look like a work of Southern Gothic when I wear this suit.

Yes, I know the sleeves are too short. 'Sall she wrote.

*Yes, once upon a time BR did sell such a thing as a linen ice cream suit. Fairly substantial goods, too; Italian made.
**Your average dry cleaner has a scorched-earth, or perhaps scorched-fabric, strategy toward spots on light colors. If he has to create a bigger spot to kill off the smaller one, he will not hesitate.

 

[Feraud]

I've seen that BR suit of yours in person Fletch.
It is a perfect summer suit!

 

[chanteuseCarey]

I had white linen trousers that are from 2003 that had developed what I guess are yellow oxidation stains. My regular dry cleaner said nothing could be done when I showed the pants to her. I've hand and machine washed other 100% linen garments-so I decided to try it on my own. I put them in the tub with dish soap, Biz, and baby shampoo (I use that on most solid color silks in the tub). I hand scrubbed in the Biz and soaps on the yellow spots. They had to soak in a tub or bucket for quite a while, and I changed the water and soap out a couple of times. But eventually the stains became almost negligible and the trousers are now very wearable. I took them to the dry cleaners for pressing. Been wearing them ever since.

We've recently added a second dry cleaner that we take only our vintage clothing to. Will have to check with her about this next time I run some vintage clothes up to her.

 

[skyvue]

I recently bought these NOS linen pants on eBay:

http://bit.ly/soiled

And was sorely disappointed to find, when I received them yesterday, that they are very discolored. The vendor swears it's just dust and "folding marks", and perhaps it is, but given that they're NOS trousers, the risk is mine if I try to clean them. I know the vendor wouldn't take them back if they didn't come acceptably clean (and besides, I know nothing about trying to clean out decades-old grime).

The vendor's finally (and very grudgingly) agreed to take them back and refund my money, but the whole transaction has been a disappointment -- I really like the trousers, but they look quite grungy when seen in person.

Too bad. If I only I could be confident of that grunge coming out.

 

[tonyb]

I take some comfort in reading that I'm not the only one who has less than total confidence in professional cleaners. I certainly don't mean to disparage the trade in its entirety, but I'd bet we could have a long, long thread devoted to the disappointments and disasters we've experienced at our local slap-dash cleaners.

Our chanteuseCarey has it right, I think: trust your treasured vintage items only to those who have proven worthy of it. If a costs a bit more, or takes a little longer, that's a small price to pay.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

your investment of vintage clothing warrants it...

When we first got into vintage clothing, the first thing I did was contact a long time member of our local Art Deco Society (been in the group for 20+ years) to find a good cleaners. She and her husband have collected and worn vintage clothing longer than that, going back to clothes of the Victorian period or probably even further. He gave us the name of this dry cleaners, Crystal Cleaners in San Mateo. They have been a family owned business since the 1960s, opened first by the mother and for many years now the daughter owns and runs the business. Our favorite vintage dealers recommended CC as well. CC has not just done cleaning for us, but also has done repairs on vintage things for us and even worked a miracle on a dye streaked vintage 40s skirt that we got for our daughter. They ARE expensive compared to our local regular dry cleaners, but we trust our vintage clothing only to CC. Sometimes things do take longer, but that's okay too. I drive up 45 minutes each way to go to them, but its all worth it. They even have a furrier they also work with, that can do cold storage for us over the hot summer months and repair splits in the skins.

Our chanteuseCarey has it right, I think: trust your treasured vintage items only to those who have proven worthy of it. If a costs a bit more, or takes a little longer, that's a small price to pay.

 

[Chad Sanborn]

One thing my mom does with her old stained linen tableclothes is to spread them out (carefully) on the grass on a sunny day and let them sit there for several hours. Somehow very old and stubborn stains come out. I have no idea how it works, but it does.

The sun is quite the cleaner! I suspect this works because it is fading the stain. Just as if you left something colored/folded in the sun too long. It fades on the side facing the sun. But that is just a guess.

I do know that if you have clothes that smell of smoke, perfume, or cologne, you can leave those out in the sun and the smell will vanish!

 

[cookie]

So I am the proud new owner of this somewhat lived in, 1930's (?) Irish white linen double breasted suit:

Any opinions on the best way to attempt to clean this?! I'm -hoping- it will be presentable enough to wear to my cousin's afternoon outdoor wedding next month.

thanks!

I think that Baron Kurz reckons you can use Oxiclean with linen. That suit will probably be unlined and washable in cold water methinks with one of the new types of soaking detergents like Napisan (In Australia).

Irish linen...you lucky bar steward...I have a few pics of one in my imageshack collection.

 

[Feraud]

Irish linen...you lucky bar steward...I have a few pics of one in my imageshack collection.

speaking of Irish linen.. weren't you having a suit made?
Any progress?

 

[cookie]

Still under consideration. I wanted 2 x DBs and it appears that there is not enough Italian linen to make a DB... I have enough of the Irish ivory but I want a suit from a beautiful Etro Italian linen fabric as well but there's only enough for a SB as the seller did not sell me enough.

 

[Feraud]

Do you have a linen SB? If not, two button with patch pockets would look great.