When buying clothes, no one thinks about their service life, because thoughts are occupied with how they decorate, how they like them, how well they bought them. Meanwhile, a surprise is possible even before the first wear. Housewives who care about the health of their family and their own prefer to wash new clothes to get rid of store dirt and traces of fittings. And here it is, surprise! The thing faded. It remains to decide what to do if things faded during washing - throw them away or put them in order. If we throw it away, we say goodbye and forget. And if you like it, it’s a pity to throw it away, then you should think about how to wash a faded item.
Why do clothes fade?
Who is to blame if the item fades after washing? There are many candidates: manufacturers of fabrics, clothing, washing machines, laundry detergents, the housewife herself. Purity of color disappears for several reasons.
- Gray, yellowish, brown, blue stains are formed from excess powder during washing.
- An incorrect washing mode results in dirt being smeared onto the fabric rather than being removed.
- Rust in the soaking container, washing machine or drying line.
- Washing colored laundry together with white.
- Printing, ink printing, or hand-painting on fabric may bleed if the water is too hot.
- During production, the paint on the fabric is weakly fixed or the fabric is saturated with it in excess. This often happens with jeans.
- When sewing clothes of combined colors, fabrics with different dyeing methods are combined.
- Decorative elements are made of low-quality materials and cannot be washed. Piping, cords, fabric buttons, and seam finishing with threads of contrasting colors sometimes create problems.
- Bad dye on some parts of clothing.
- Wrong choice of bleach or stain remover. If you pour bleach into the washing machine when washing, there is a possibility that you will end up with items that are the same dirty brown color.
- The washing temperature is high.
Before the first wash, a new item is briefly soaked in warm water with powder. It will be immediately obvious whether she sheds or not. This way, the quality of the dye and dyed fabric is checked without risking the rest of the clothing.
Drying Features
It is important not only to wash any item, but also to dry it properly. Drying jeans is carried out according to the following rules:
- after washing and rinsing, the item should be gently wrung out; the material should not be twisted with force (this will damage the fibers and deform the clothing);
- You need to dry clothes by first turning them inside out;
- Jeans must be hung by attaching them to a rope in the waist area.
In addition, the best option for drying is to find the item in the fresh air. You should not lay clothes on a radiator or hang them over a heater.
Is it possible to iron jeans? Most models are designed in such a way that the item fits tightly around the hips and legs. In this case, ironing will be unnecessary.
Jeans should be ironed according to the instructions on the tag.
If you purchased looser-fitting trousers, you can iron them by selecting the appropriate temperature setting for the material.
How to wash a faded white item
When washing a completely white item, it is enough to wash it separately from colored laundry. But a white blouse with a black collar and cuffs or a white shirt with colored inserts will have to be taken seriously. Clothing manufacturers often do not think about the compatibility of materials and the durability of paint on combined items. As a result, the owner gets colored stains on white.
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The easiest option, when stains are noticed on wet clothes immediately after washing, is to wash them again, thoroughly rubbing the stained areas. If this does not help, stains are discovered when the clothes have already dried and absorbed the paint, use proven methods.
Before you wash faded white items with bleach, pay attention to its composition. Household chlorine bleaches (similar to Whiteness) can damage fabrics and
selective in use (for example, they can remove stains from cotton, linen), so it’s worth stocking up on oxygen or optical ones. Optical agents work with white things, and oxygen ones work with any kind, so it is better to focus on the “White” mark.
The method of washing white clothes by boiling has long been known. But it is not suitable for all modern fabrics; it requires a lot of time and effort, so it is of little relevance.
Here's how to remove stains on white and mixed items.
Stain remover + bleach + washing powder
Stain remover and bleach are mixed in equal proportions with washing powder in a standard dosage for one wash. The components are dissolved in warm water, and the laundry is placed there. The fabric is mixed well to ensure uniform impregnation, soaked for a day, then washed. The method is suitable for old faded stains on white.
Hydrogen peroxide + baking soda
Soda (1 tbsp) and hydrogen peroxide (1 tsp) are dissolved in 2 liters of water. The item is placed in the solution and cooked over low heat (700) for 10–15 minutes. After cooking, the laundry is thoroughly rinsed. If 2 liters of solution is not enough to immerse the laundry, the dosage is increased multiple times: 2 tablespoons of ingredients are taken per 4 liters.
Boric acid
A solution is prepared from boric acid for soaking dried and stale stains on white. For every liter of water add 1 tbsp. l. acid, the laundry is soaked for 1.5-2 hours, then washed with powder or soap.
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Citric acid + soap + starch + salt
Citric acid will help remove even old stains from faded items. Apply a thick paste of 1 tbsp to a wet cloth. l. citric acid, 1 tbsp. l. starch, 1/2 tbsp. l. salt (not iodized), 1 tbsp. l. laundry soap (rubbed with shavings on a fine grater). The ingredients are diluted with a few drops of warm water to a thick paste, applied to the stain and left overnight (up to 12 hours). Then the dried pulp must be removed and the item washed with powder.
Use of bleaches
Nowadays many different special products called bleaches are sold that do their job well. Oxygen products are available in household chemical stores that will gently bleach delicate fabrics and chlorine-containing products that will launder dense fabrics.
If store-bought bleaches are used, then you must follow the instructions; you can use 2 options for using bleach - apply it to water and put clothes there, or apply it to the stain itself.
How to remove faded stains from colored clothes
How to wash faded items and still maintain their original color? Special stain removers for colored linen and some folk recipes will help. Oxygen and optical products marked “Color” are designed for colored items. Chlorine-containing bleaches are not used on colored items because the result is an off-white stain on the colored item instead of the expected return to the original color.
Hydrogen peroxide
Dissolve the usual dose of washing powder in a container with warm water, then add 6% hydrogen peroxide. The soaked laundry is left overnight. Then another wash with powder and rinse.
Ammonia
For 10 liters of warm water, take 20 ml of ammonia. Faded clothes are immersed in the solution for an hour. After soaking, wash with powder. This will get rid of any remaining stains and odors. The method is suitable for color and white.
Baking soda
To remove stains, soda is diluted with a few drops of warm water to a thick paste and applied to the stain for 10–15 minutes. Afterwards, rinse thoroughly under running water. With the help of soda, faded stains and stains from juices and berries are washed from clothes.
Vinegar
Vinegar solutions are used to fix color. Immediately after washing, dilute 1 tbsp in cold water. l. vinegar (3 liters) and rinse the product well. If you wash faded colored items and fix the color, then next time they will not lose color.
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Salt
Salt is often used to remove excess dye and restore the whiteness of cotton fabrics. Dissolve 1 tbsp in 5 liters of water. l. salt, used for rinsing after washing.
We wash with folk remedies
- The first way is to use green tea: you need to make two liters of strong tea and strain. Apply the tea to your clothes after applying salt first. When about half an hour has passed, wash the item by hand.
- The second way is to use chalk: separate the chalk and dissolve it in three liters of water. Soak the product for an hour, turning it during this time. Add a spoonful of vinegar if desired, if the item has faded a lot. Use this method for woolen items.
- The third method is laundry soap: thoroughly rub the stains with soap, put the product in a bag, leave for a couple of hours and rinse.
What to do if the item has faded and cannot be washed
If the methods presented do not help, there are several options for further use of the item:
- Modernize. A blouse with long sleeves and stains on the cuffs can easily be transformed into a new one with short sleeves. And the dress is a skirt or blouse. If it is impossible to remove a faded stain, you can cut it off.
- Decorate. The stain can be easily covered with embroidery, a decorative patch, figured edging or iron-on adhesive. This is rarely suitable for business style clothing; you will have to be creative so as not to disturb the image.
- Repaint. Fabric paints cost pennies and are sold in hardware or craft stores. You'll have to use your imagination. Has your white T-shirt acquired a green stain? Tie knots on it in several places and cook it in green dye - a fashionable and unique print is guaranteed. Was the blouse washed with jeans and turned blue in places? Blue dye and half an hour of time - a new blue blouse. Has the item acquired a dirty pink tint from children's tights? A hanger and a couple of stages of soaking in a cool dye solution - a chic gradient that will hide all the unpleasant shades. If things of dark colors have faded, they are lightened with bleach or painted black.
We use stain remover
There are many stain removers available in household chemical stores; it is up to you to decide which one to choose, because things are made from a wide variety of fabrics, so there should be several stain removers.
Choose products with the word “color” - they will get rid of stains without damaging the fabric. It should be applied to the stain itself or used diluted.
How to wash so things don't fade
Simple rules should be followed.
- The first wash is done by hand. This is difficult to do with bulky items such as bed linen or bedspreads. Soaking with powder for two hours before washing in the machine will help. It is better to take water at the same temperature as planned for washing.
- Sorting before storing for washing in the washing machine. Do not mix white and color, synthetics and natural fabrics.
- Follow the recommendations on clothing labels.
- Do not wash jeans along with other colored items during the first washes (until the excess dye is washed out).
- If you have any doubts about how to wash something without it fading, wash it by hand.
To prevent your favorite sweater from fading during washing, soak it in salt water, and then rinse thoroughly and wash it in the usual way.
It happens that there is no time to sort the laundry, there is not enough sorted laundry for the bookmark, and a thousand other reasons why everything ends up in the drum. In this case, it is worth minimizing the consequences. With a quick wash (30 minutes) and cold water (300), the chances of clothes fading will be much less than with a full cycle in hot water.
