A load of laundry i just took out of the dryer appears to be completly ruined. I left a ball point pen in a pocket and it went thru the washer/dryer spilling all of it's horrible blackness all over my clothes. Is there any hope????? Any suggestions for attempting to treat them? I've googled for it but only found treatments pre-wash..
I never thought i would have such an attachment to clothes but a few of them are new and a few of them have sentimental value from a few triathlons I have done.. any help would be MUCH appreciated!
posted by joshgray
on Aug 23, 2005 -
19 answers
Damn it all to hell, I've gone and "pinked" both pairs of jeans I own by washing them with something red in the same load. Clearly, my innate stupidity is incurable, but is there hope for my pants? I think I'd rather walk into work in my boxers than swish in on twin ringlets of pink fringe.
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posted by scarabic
on Jul 21, 2005 -
11 answers
How much does it cost (or what is the amount of electricity / volume of water used) to do one full load of laundry, as an average. Or, how would I go about getting precise figures for this? I want to know how much too much we pay to operate the pay-per-load laundry machines in our new apartment building.
posted by ChrisR
on Jul 16, 2005 -
5 answers
Lately I have noticed a residual funky smell in my clothes after washing and drying. (Think used towels. Not hotel ones as they all smell like chlorine bleach). I do use fabric softener to no avail. Is ther a way to get rid of this smell in the clothing? Enzymatic detergent? The stuff to get rid of the smell pet urine? Anybody else have this problem and solved the issue?
posted by thimk
on Jun 15, 2005 -
19 answers
ShrinkingWoolSweaterFilter: Ok, so I took a wool sweater, washed it in cold water then let it dry naturally. Result: it shrank! Now, I'm asking something slightly different than what you think I'm asking...
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posted by vacapinta
on May 24, 2005 -
6 answers
I have a lot of cotton t-shirts, of the medium-to-heavy weight kind that usually have something printed on them. There seem to be two distinct kinds of cotton fabric in the shirts:
Good: After a few washes, the shirt becomes soft and kind of broken in. Bad: the shirt never really becomes soft or broken in, and worse, inevitably comes out of the dryer with (clean) lint and cat hair all over it. So I have two questions about this:
1. What accounts for the different outcomes for two 100% cotton shirts?
2. Is there any solution, ASIDE from using fabric softener? Any non-nasty alternatives to fabric softener?
posted by everichon
on Mar 15, 2005 -
9 answers
My favorite sweaters are made of wool. They're dry-clean-only. And they're also stretched out and don't look that great anymore. How can I shrink them just a little bit to get them back to their original size? Oh, and any advice on preventing/removing pilling?
posted by SpecialK
on Mar 10, 2005 -
7 answers
I've got several pairs of lightweight wool dress pants from Ann Taylor. They are marked dry clean only. Suppose I hand-wash these pants in cold water and lay them flat on a towel to air-dry. Will the laundry gods punish my impudence?
posted by naomi
on Feb 14, 2005 -
12 answers
I'm looking for a natural alternative to dryer sheets. Does anyone have experience with this? [+]
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posted by vorfeed
on Jan 14, 2005 -
25 answers
Clean energy filter! I just ran a pair of rechargeable AA batteries through the wash. On the top ends, there is a black plastic or paper ring or collar that is under the plastic label and which appears to tuck beneath the edge of the nubby positive metal pole. Compared to an unwashed pair, this black material is warped, probably swollen from water. The washed batteries do not perceptibly weigh more than a never-washed pair.
Should I toss 'em or risk the Chernobyl-like consequences that may result from using them? Are they toast?
posted by mwhybark
on Jan 11, 2005 -
8 answers
It’s laundry day: After doing my second load of laundry, I discovered some not-so-tiny black spots on one of my favourite shirts, as well as many other items in the load. [mi]
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posted by genevieve
on Dec 9, 2004 -
6 answers
GrowingUpFilter: In the middle of changing my look (as previous thread attests). I want to go slightly smarter, and have been buying some shirts lately. Quite expensive ones (for me, at least). Except, I can't figure out how to iron the damn things. Sleeves askew, collars curled. Should I get them laundered instead? Also, what exactly defines a good fit on a shirt? Should it look like a second skin? Where should it puff and billow?
posted by Jongo
on Dec 2, 2004 -
19 answers
How do you remove silicone based lube from clothing/sheets/cotton based material? Traditional stain removers have not helped. Ammonia was suggested, but I've no clue what that would entail doing and whether everything I owned was destined to smell like that forever.
posted by pieoverdone
on Nov 8, 2004 -
7 answers
My wife has a lot of "hang or line dry" only clothes. I use liquid faberic softener in the wash cycle and then use one of those faberic softener sheets in the dryer too on the rest. However, her line dry clothes always seem to not feel the effects of the liquid faberic softener. Any tips for making sure her jeans aren't so crinkly? {its clean inside}
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posted by thebwit
on Nov 6, 2004 -
6 answers
The sleeves on my shirts and jackets have an unfortunate tendency to ride up and wrinkle. What can I do to remedy this?
posted by sid
on Nov 2, 2004 -
2 answers
How do you get the smell and stain of gasoline out of clothes?
posted by ChasFile
on Sep 28, 2004 -
3 answers
For how many showers do you use a towel before throwing it in the hamper?
posted by Capn
on Sep 23, 2004 -
36 answers
It seems like at least once a year my washing machine starts leaking where the hot and cold water hoses screw into the back of the machine. This time it leaked for at least a few days before I caught it, leaving water spots on the ceiling downstairs. I usually take the hoses off and replace the washers in the ends of the hose. Anyone have any better ideas or is there anything I can do so they never leak again?
posted by ttrendel
on Jul 7, 2004 -
7 answers
I have quite a few silk blouses, and I'm curious about the various washing instructions. Some are dry-clean only, others hand wash/line dry, and others still are machine wash/tumble dry. (As well as other assorted combinations). Why all the variations, when all are 100% silk?
posted by ferociouskitty
on Apr 9, 2004 -
4 answers
ULTIMATE USE OF ASK METAFILTER: Yellow pit stains on the white cotton t-shirts. What are the remedies? Throw the shirt out or do you have a proven bleaching/detergent technique?
posted by Peter H
on Mar 4, 2004 -
24 answers
