Tothill

I would make sure they are stain free before putting them away again.

I am in no way affiliated, but Amway used to have a laundry booster with the word White in the name. Sorry I realize that is not much help. I just looked at the Amway site and it is no longer listed. It may have been a version of Oxyclean.

Anyways, I used it to wash old linens with brown stains very successfully.

selm

As they are unusable as they are why not try washing with bleach and see what happens. The dyes of that era held up to bleach very well usually. But, of course, no guarantees but, as I said, they are not usable as is now.

KenmoreGal2

I got antsy. I don't like all the aprons equally so I picked one I didn't like much and I have it soaking now in Oxy. Basically I chose that because I already had it in the house! I'll let you guys know.

Edited to add - I checked on the apron. I rinsed the apron in my washer, spun it out and examined it. So far the stain is still there, it may be lighter, it's hard to tell. I've put it back into a new batch of oxy for overnight at least.

Girlfriend

I had a few, very old stained, family linens, and I read on the internet how to get stains out, after trying with regular washing machine methods that didn't work.

Boil water and pour boiling water over the pillow cases, so that they are not soaking in the water, but rather the water is actually migrating through the fabric. This "weakens" the stain. I was using on white linens, so I mixed 2 Tbsp bleach with about 2 cups boiling water, and poured it through the linens. The stain disappeared before my eyes. I then rinsed the linens very well to make sure there was no residue of bleach, and re-laundered. I couldn't have been more happy.

There is a product from Amway called All Fabric Bleach that is excellent. I would try that first, since you are working with color fabrics. They also have a prewash stain remover that is also excellent. I am not affiliated in any way with Amway, I'm just a long time happy customer.

Good luck with your dilemma and let us know what finally works for you.

misspriss

Have you tried washing them and laying them out on green grass? That's how my grandmother got stains out of her whites..

KenmoreGal2

I washed them and line dried them in the sun.....do you suppose that's equal? Or maybe laying them on the grass exposes them to even more sunlight? IDK. I do know sometimes I lay sweaters out back on a flat drying screen and I have to be so careful they don't blow away in the wind! I'd be even more concerned with linens.

maviskw

Biz is so much better than Oxy products. I had switched when the Oxys came out, but I'm back to Biz. I don't know if it will take out those stains, but it's worth a try. "Stanley" had a stain remover that took tar stains out of a patio door curtain. I was at the party and watched it happen. The curtain was in the hostess's house, and the dealer tried her stain remover on it. It worked. Of course tar is not like your stains.

KenmoreGal2

Thanks. I did a quick search and my local walmart sells Biz.

quiltingranny

I personally feel that if you put the items back in the attic as is the staining will get worse. I've had good luck with retroclean.
Will be waiting to see what you find works best.

AZ Jane

Throw them in the washer with some Oxiclean and Dawn, if they survive, they are good to go.