Care For Your (Denim/ Wool/ Cotton)
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More of a question on caring for an IH T-Shirt. So I unfortunately have 3 White IH T's with slight yellowing under the pits. I only wore them twice so I know that it is a combination of my deodorant and detergent. Wondering if anyone have any experience with bleaching T-Shirts? More importantly White T-Shirts with IH prints/ logos on them… Any help would be much appreciated!
I've had some success with white vinegar added to the washing cycle. I've always found bleach to be too abrasive and while it will help to cut stains, it'll probably also cut the life of they shirt.
Edit for clarity: Vinegar is already a weak acid so too much can't really hurt, but I usually add around 1 cup per gallon of water. Also, I usually just soak w/ vinegar and wash normally.
Also edit: http://laundry.about.com/od/vinegarinthelaundr1/tp/vinegarhub.htm
Just found this browsing MC at StyleForum:
@v:
Haha, J, I'll type it up for ya:
Step 1: Soak shirt in a solution made from one gallon hot water (as hot as it will come out of the faucet) and one cup of vinegar. Let the shirt soak for 30 mins to 2 hours.
Step 2: Rinse shirts, and squeeze out excess water. Empty bucket and rinse. In a cup, prepare a concentrated Oxy-Clean solution. Make sure to use the Oxy-Clean granules that come in the tub. Make the solution about 10 parts HOT water to one part O-C. Usually this amounts to two scoops of O-C (using the provided scoop) per 4-6 ounces of water. You want this to be very concentrated.
Step 3: Apply the strong solution generously to the stained areas. Place the shirts in a bucket (so that the solution doesn't flow away, or dry) with the stained areas towards the bottom of the bucket so they stay nice and covered in the solution. Allow to soak overnight. It can also help to use an old toothbrush and scrub the stained areas every hour or so, if you've got the time.
Step 4: In the morning, remove the shirts from bucket. Fill the bucket with a gallon of hot water, and two scoops of the Oxy-Clean (basically, follow the recipe on the package for a general cleaning solution) and mix well. Place the shirts in the bucket, and soak for 2-24 hours. This just helps to remove any trace of stain. You might want to stir the shirts around with your hands after you put them in the bucket with the weaker solution just to remove some of the stronger solution that is still on the shirts.
Step 5: Remove, and wash/rinse in the regular cycle on your washing machine.
Note: I find that this normally removes sweat/dirt stains from the armpit, neck, and cuff with ease. For really strong stains, you might have to repeat the process a few times. However, with this, I've been able to remove some major sweat stains that have been set into shirts for five years, at least.
Laundry can be complicated…
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you flip them inside out to get the sweat out and most importantly to preserve the indigo and not cause any weird vertical fades. but by washing them inside out i suppose they wouldnt be "as clean" tho i still would highly recommend washing them like that. if you have issues with cleanliness, you can always handwash right side out and inside out. or machine wash inside out with warm water and warm rinse.
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Found this clip on the Imogene+Willie website
Wash your jeans like real people
We can do anything
http://bybeatle.com -
^that's a nice one. I posted it on mynudies a few months ago. I am the bathtub-type, but the river-type is dope. No sympathy for the washroom-guy
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Salt, sludge, grit, mud and god knows what other detritus is currently caked to the lower reaches of your denim. (or in my case, the seat of my jeans :-X)
You hadn't planned on washing your jeans for a good while yet, but the caked on grime is kind of unsightly and you want it gone.
How do you deal with such scenario? Will a gentle hand wash loosen it or do you think even a soak might help shift it? :-\
Any and all opinions welcome.
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I routinely do a soapy soak every two weeks to a month. I just leave it in a bucket of cold water+Woolite dark. This way I never get that "caking", but I don't lose the indigo and move the creases as a wash would do. Every six months of wear I give it a machine wash
It's just my way of washing my jeans
I'm going to give this thread two days before merging it to the "Care of your denim" thread
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No time like the present… I just merged them. It really belongs there anyhow...
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Nice one Doug, sounds like a plan.
No time like the present… I just merged them. It really belongs there anyhow...
Great bump, thanks Lando!
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Ok, feedback kindly requested please…
....My name is Hectic and I suck at evo - there, I've said it.
Q: Is good evo closely related to tight(ish) fit? It seems that this must be the case for the behind knee combs, no?
Q: I soaked my 634S-B twice now in 1.5 months, cold soak, Doc Bronners. Should I have done this re: evo?
I would like these 634S-B to be my first really good evo pair.
Thanks for thoughts.
H
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^ On the one hand, it is indeed easier to fade tight jeans when it comes to combs, at least, that's my experience. Of course you got more tension and crinkles on tight jeans when walking and sitting down which speeds up the fading.
With skinny jeans the combs turn out to be more horizontal lines and on straight cuts they turn out to be more like the classic honeycomb structure.But on the other hand, this is just concerning the speed of the developping fades. I had no trouble getting combs in different pairs of jeans and I don't have problems on the 634S-B as well.
Washing or soaking is "bad" for combs, when it affects the creases from settling and washes out the sharp lines. That's why I wait very long before the first wash, normally 10 months, if nothing requires an earlier wash.
So, your soaking/washing could indeed slow down the evo, but if you care for your creases and make sure, that the combs and creases settle fine, it's doable. What I do to settle my combs when I get a new pair of jeans: put a little water in the back of the knees and do some squats. (Works especially on starched raw denim, which od isn't.)
Conclusion: Faster fades on slim cuts: yay. No fades/combs on straight cuts: nay. Potential for your 634s-B to fade well: yay, dependeing on your livestyleGood luck!
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brother hectic - fit doesn't matter, they will fade no matter what. your biggest issue, as Max said, will be with soaking/washing them too often. this will lessen the contrast that i assume you're going for. as Beatle says, just wear them and don't worry.
i guess the bigger question is why the two soaks in 1.5 months? then maybe this should get moved to the Care For Your Denim thread for further discussion, yeah?
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yeah, why 2 soaks in 10 weeks ? I generally stick to no water policy for at least 12 weeks
We can do anything
http://bybeatle.com -
Some of the nicest jeans I've ever seen didn't have "high contrast fading".
I actually prefer the look of lived in and loved denim that isn't intentionally thrashed (not to say those aren't beautiful as well).
The Japanese denim trade was born out of their love of vintage American jeans. In the 40's 50's and 60's, I wouldn't imagine it was the thing to own multiple pairs of jeans for most (or buy several sizes too small on purpose), so they probably took better care of what they had. The aging of denim is a very esoteric and magical process that I'm sure we're all compulsivly drawn to, and I personally want to let it happen on its own, and not have expectations or manipulate the process.
I feel like if you've got a certain end look in mind for your worn denim, it takes away a bit of the freedom of just living in them…
They're gonna turn out how they're gonna turn out.
Or just find a pair of 634SRs...NEVER seen a lived in pair that didn't blow me away...P.S. If you want a quick pocket fade, put an iphone in your back pocket and go down a slide with your kid a few times. I got a very noticable fade in about 2 minutes...
