washing lace

I've never used lace before in sewing. I need to add lace to a few of my V neck blouses. Are all laces washable? Is there anything I need to watch for? I wear these blouses almost every week so they get washed a lot.

Thanks.

Reply to
janesire
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As far as I'm concerned all NEW laces are machine washable. The hand-made cotton ones are particularly durable but nylon ones are fine too.

Delicate old laces might need careful hand washing - come people use soapwort but I've not found it specially useful. I'd use soap flakes for hand washing fragile fabrics.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Dear Mary,

If your tops are cotton and you want to use cotton lace, a product called Miracle White is wonderful. It goes on and off the market,so you might have to hunt for it; but when I was working with historic clothing, I used this product to clean very dirty, yellowed white cotton and linen. It's especially good for cleaning yellowed lace. All you have to do is soak in a solution, rinse, and the materials come out super white with no damage from bleach. I think the product has sodium perborate in it (Clorox II?).

If you ever have a need to clean black lace, the original Listerine Antiseptic Mouthwash will do the trick. If you look on the label, you'll see that the only ingredients are thymol and alcohol. I once had a large collection of black lace at the gallery where I was curator. It had been badly stored, and was covered with mildew and dirt. A soak in the mouthwash, followed by a good rinse, and the lace was as good as new. It was important to do this, because the lace was exquisite and handmade. I had my class restore it, and then we mounted it on acid-free boards covered with washed velvet, so that it could be stored and/or displayed without further handling it.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

OP here. Thanks for your replies.

a few of my blouses are cotton and a few are other synthetic material. Should I match the lace material to the blouse material? I was thinking of buying one yard and use the same lace for all blouses. I need just a small piece for each blouse since I'm doing this to make them modest in the V neck so to speak.

Also, I want durable lace that can be washed in washing machine. I don't hand wash anything. No special detergent. Is this a tall order?

Thanks.

Reply to
janesire

Dear Mary,

For that little amount of lace, you can use about anything. I don't think I'd go with nylon, however. Nylon picks up colors from the washer and gets dingy. Cotton of course, would be your best choice if your tops are cotton. I spent a couple of hours yesterday looking for cotton lace for my tiny dolls that are dressed in historic clothing. I came across a lot of crochet-look lace that sounds as though it would be perfect for your tops. Try Dharma Trading Company. It's basically a dye company, but has a lot of cotton, dyeable lace.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

The other thing to think about is how the lace will feel against your skin. I agree with Teri on everything she said. The only reason I would suggest cotton lace over nylon is a lot of the nylon/poly laces I've seen are really scratchy. That would make me nuts in the V of a shirt. This is Especially true with the inexpensive poly laces!!

If you do go with cotton, wash the lace first. Mass produced lace should be fine in the washing machine. When you cut the patch to put in the shirt, you may want to overcast the edges rather than roll hemming the lace. You don't want to add a lot of bulk. If you have a serger, just serge the cut ends.

Sharon

Reply to
Sharon Hays

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