Washing a Quilt - and other items, too
 

It seems that the way we try to get our dirty items - clothing, linens, whatever - changes over the years.

Do you read the care instructions that are attached to most items purchased at a store?

What do you do for items that do not have a label - such as a hand-made quilt or hand knitted sweater?

I have ruined more than one item because I did not know - or follow - the proper care instructions.

There are some things I just do not like to do
- take things to the dry cleaner (why is it called "dry"?)
- block a sweater
- hand washing almost anything
- pre-treating stains or extra dirty spots (this is what I refer to as "pre-washing") -
- running a load for that one item that just does not go with any other load
- use something like color catchers or other "additives" to minimize dye transfer

There are some items that I know will color the water - such as dark blue jeans - they go in a load by themselves - if blue transfers to blue - no problem.

It's the red and white striped shirt - or the black and white quilt (never mind, that would get it's own load) - or the bright golden yellow shirt - that sort of get "put to the side" - because it just does not go with anything else that is being washed.

So - what do you do with those "strays"? I usually end up hand-washing it if I can't stand looking at it any longer.

We have a septic system, so the amount of water we run through the house does matter.

I have a small Panda washer that is perfect for those odd things I can put it on my kitchen counter next to my sink, fill it and wash what ever, then drain, then I rinse it a couple of times, and then spin it in my nina spin dryer which just removes the water, and air dry it

I always read the label on how to wash or care for the item. Guess I learned this when I washed a sweater of my granddaughter's and it came out to just barely fit a Barbie doll.

My washer has "hand wash" cycle I love and after I hang the stuff to dry on a rack. Black/white striped shirt? I'd put in with the 'dark' wash. If it can't take it then it's gone. Don't usually have a problem with that as most clothes mix well.
I separate laundry by weight(towels, sheets, heavy pants vs lighter weight shirts, etc), dark laundry so it doesn't pick up lint from lighter, shedding things and white wash(I bleach white wash so white underwear and kitchen linens(even if not white-I'd rather sanitized so if they fade I don't care)).

I do not buy clothing that needs special care. If I do I donate it and forget it. At 75 I try not to complicate my life anymore than I have to. I did things differently when I was younger.

If it says to hand wash, block to dry or dry clean, I don't buy it. Go too many other things to do.

I don't read the "care" labels. I don't hand wash. In your "for instance", the red/white shirt and the bright yellow shirt would go into the lights, the quilt would be taken to the laundraomat, since it's too large for the machine. I don't wear sweaters because I'm not going to block and lay them out to dry after washing.

I don’t buy anything that needs special care. I Have two laundry baskets, a white one for white and a green one for everything else except for bed linens and kitchen items (Dish towels and cloth napkins). The bed linens get done once a week in their own separate loads and the kitchen stuff gets its own load so I can sterilize it. Clothes go in either the white or the colored load and are washed on normal setting (cold wash, cold rinse). Most stains come out in the wash, but Any clothing that is too stained or raggedy to be socially acceptable gets worn when cleaning, doing yard work or working in the studio. I like to keep things simple.

Rob

After years of hand washing sweaters, I decided to try that 'delicate' cycle on my front load washer. Being overly cautious, I gave each sweater its own lingerie bag. Well! Needless to say, I have not hand washed another sweater! As for blocking, I lay them on my indoor drying rack in the spare room.

The only thing I do each and every laundry day, is check every pocket. There have been too many nasty surprises over the years.

totally agree with Jingle at our age we have enough to think about