Vicky's Laundrey Experiment Mk II

I soaked the birded bits, and the solid matter has come away. Now soaking in more soap solution, but after talking to the Vulpex man - the creator and developer, not a salesman - I am ordering some of his stuff. Given the possible fragility of some of these pieces, particularly the lace, I really don't want them soaking for days and days, and a couple of soaks in ordinary detergent doesn't seem to be shifting the muck.

I'll send him a cheque, and do a comparative test, using the stuff I haven't tackled yet. If we get a miracle cure, then I can re-do the done-in-Ecover bits and get the result I'd like. The good thing about this stuff is that it leaves no residue, and the solution can be re-used lots of times, so though it's expensive, I will get a lot of use out of it.

This was no hard sell: he was most keen that I try the little 100ml bottle, but in solution that wouldn't even cover the smallest garment. I shall see how this works, anyway, and continue to document the process.

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX
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Click on Kate's Pages and explore! Good luck, Kate!! Thanks for the detailed posts too. It's always good to know what works, never know when we will need info like this. :)

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

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> Click on Kate's Pages and explore!> >

The stuff with bird poop and the other things that have only had one soak are still very brownish looking. It hasn't shifted much in the way of stains, even though some of the detergent solution was quite discoloured when I fished them out. The corset cover looks better, but I'm wondering about that... It now looks like it might have been 'blued' at some point, as there is a slight blueness to some of the gathers.

The quastions that arise are:

What was in those blue bags? How were they used? When did people start using them? (and when did they stop? I don't remember my mum or grandmother ever using them. I remember seeing them in the hardware shop, and the old fashioned grocery shop, but not in supermarkets).

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Dear Kate,

I remember blueing from when I was a little girl. I'm going on 72 now. If one used too much, it turned everything in the wash blue. It was added to the rinse water. But this was when we had wringer washers, and one had to change the water to rinse. That's probably when it lost favor. That would have been in the late fifties, I think.

Teri

Reply to
gpjteri

In those days both Mum and granny (her mum) had one of these:

Granny had two large enammel sinks in her kitchen, side by side. The power ringer went on top of the washer and she power-wrung the wash into one sink, where it was rinsed, and then the wringer swung round and power-wrung it into the other sink. All very modern in its day! But neither mum nor Granny ever used those blue bags...

When we came back from Malta in '68, Mum's got dropped. Upside down. The wringer went through the tub, killing it. After that, she has always had a front loading automatic, except for the time we were in Germany, when we had a pre-loved (by several people!) twin tub. It was just about OK for doing the wash when Mum and Dad were on their own, but with all 4 of us kids home from uni or school for holidays, it was a right old PITA! It lived in the cellar and the motor dripped oil...

When Alan and I moved in together in '79, we inherited his family's Hotpoint Empress. It didn't last long. We got an automatic so we could do washing over night whenever, rather than having to dedicate most of Saturday or Sunday to it. The old Empress got parked outside for a year, with a plastic sheet over it. Then the Zannusi museum took it away and when they tested it, the damned thing STILL worked perfectly!

These days anything modern that needs hand washing gets the handwash program on my ISE5 front loading automatic washing machine that is so quiet I keep checking it's actually still working! :D

And to keep dulled or stained whites white, I pop a sachet of something like this into the drum with the wash: >

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Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

I remember my mother using "bluing" stuff, I don't recall whether it was liquid or powder. This thread had me interested enough to google it:

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love this part: "On the same principle, bluing is sometimes used by white-haired people in a blue rinse."

When I was invited to join a women's educational organization in 1975, one of the lovely older women had lavender hair. It was ... unusual. ;-)

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Around here, we used Mrs. Stewart's Bluing. It's been around for 100 years and is still available in most supermarkets.

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Reply to
Pogonip

Here's some fun information -

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Reply to
Pogonip

supermarkets.http://www.mrsstewart.com/pages/laundryhelp.htm> --> Joanne

singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.comhttp://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/That's what I have here too. Had to go look at the bottle in thelaundry room to see if it was the same brand. :) Mrs. Stewart was notan attractive woman if the portrait on the label is accurate. Shescares me a little. But the stuff works really well. Great for whitefabrics that are just a little dingey, but you don't want to bleachthem

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

There's a lady I see at the grocery all the time that has a pink rinse put on her hair. Not pale pink. Close to fuchsia. Sure do see her coming. But all I can think of is Grandma Mazur in the Stephanie Plum novels. (yes, down to the track suit and tennis shoes usually.) I give her plenty of room when I pass her in the aisles just in case. lol

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

Hotlinking not allowed. Try navigating to this page

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hit the third link from the bottom, labelled Washing Machines - Hotpoint Empress and Apex-Vactric models 296 and3-231P

Reply to
Alan Dicey

Oh, those old dears used to amuse me... There they were with their blue/lilac/pink rinses, moaning on and ON about the kids these days with their red/blue/gree/whatever dyed hair! :D

I looked like a dark red chrysanthamum for a while.

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

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Reply to
Pogonip

Thanks, Alan. My mother had a similar machine in the basement, along side of a double deep sink made of concrete. Those were the days....

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Blue mince, anyone? ;)

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

First rule: Food should never be blue.

Reply to
Pogonip

Wrong! There are few things I like better than blueberry pie. Of course once they are cooked they turn purple, but they are blue when fresh.

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

That's the sole exception.

Reply to
Pogonip

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