Washing xs pieces

Unless it's really dirty, I would just let it soak in mild dish detergent (Ivory Snow) and cool to cold water. If there are stains, then use the oxy clean before washing it a second time .

HTH.... Lisa

Any detergent (laundry or dish) will do just fine. Let her soak and make sure the water is hot enough to activate the cleaning action (most detergents don't work at all in warm to cool/cold water). I agitate my pieces to move the water/detergent through the fibers.

If a first wash doesn't make it sparkling, then you might want to try washing again in a solution of Clorox2 with your favorite detergent. I've not used Oxyclean. In fact, I was going to ask about it, as I have a new "shell" that is stained with butter pecan ice cream and I cannot get the stain out. It gets worse with each washing. It looks positively purple. I've never seen anything act like this! I'm exasperated and think it's the dyes used.

Anyway, rinse, rinse, rinse until you can drink the water. Roll up in a terry towel. Iron while quite damp . . . embroidery face down on thick toweling.

Dianne

Barbara Hass wrote:

Being a habitual dropper of any food on my plate onto my shirt Oxyclean is indeed a marvel for getting all kinds of stains out of anything. Works really well on peanut butter stains and on gravy and sauces.

I always use dish soap to wash needlework.

George

Thanks Lisa and Dianne, for the suggestions. This is by far not the first xs I've done, and usually I just give projects a quick rinse in detergent, but this is by far the dirtiest project I've had at the end of stitching, so I wasn't sure if my usual method would be effective enough to clean it. Thanks for the help!

Barbara

Just don't use lemon dish soap if there are metallics.

I've heard from many experienced people that we should NOT use dish detergent to wash our needlework.

The best thing is a product called "orvis" and it's actually made to wash livestock. It comes in a big huge jar, probably at least a gallon. Many needlework guilds buy a jug of it and then divide it into smaller jars to sell.

We happen to have some around because I grew up on a dairy farm, and my DH and DS show dairy animals in the fairs and other shows.

If you can get your hands on some of this, it would be the best thing for your needlework.

Betsy

Never would use any thing acidic to wash my needlework. I normally use either Ivory dish liquid or Ivory Snow liquid. Two that I want to try are Life Tree Dish Soap and Meathod Dish Soap. They are more concentrated and leave less residue to rinse out.

George

Lots of people say lots of things. I'd be curious to know the "why". Lots of experienced needleworkers also caution against using Woolite, but I have used it successfully. Dianne

I think this is because Woolite has some sort of chemical that "treats" the fabric. I can't for the life of me remember what it is but I DO know that there are a lot of "fine washable" garments that have now said NOT to use Woolite! For those interested, ORVUS is now available at most PetSmart stores in their horse section. I *think* you can get smaller bottles of it. I bought the gallon and shared the cost with Janet (my stitchin' buddy). HMMM reminds me that I have to give her some more since she lost whatever she had when her house burned! Anyway, I used to use dish soap but now I use ORVUS. I like the fact that it's totally free of all those fragrances, etc. and you don't need to use much at all. CiaoMeow >^;;^<