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Gardengirl 
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 Topic: Woolen wash dillema
Posted: 12 September 2009 at 9:29am |
Yesterday I handwashed 2 beautiful hand knitted white matinee jackets made by my MIL and hung them out to dry. Now I'm dreading her seeing them as they have dried looking as though they have had tea spilt on them!  Some of the wool is perfectly white and some has this horrible cold tea stain look about it. I washed them in luke warm water and used Persil sensitive (all I had).
What did I do wrong? And how can I get them all white again?
Thanks in advance!
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Mamma2N
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 9:32am |
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Unfortunetly it would have been the hanging out to dry. You can't hang woolens out in the sun as that is what can happen. Not too sue of a remedy I'm afraid but if you google it I'm sure you're bound to find something.
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emz
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 10:34am |
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Yeah you can't hang wool out in the sun. It should be laid flat in the shade. Also you should use Lux flakes or similar rather than a detergent. I don't know of any remedies sorry, other than dying the wool?
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Maya
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 2:05pm |
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Wow, you learn something new every day! I never knew you couldn't hang wool in the sun.
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 Maya Grace (28/02/03)
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SBM
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 3:46pm |
Haha neither did I... *looks out at the woolen blankets hanging on the line in the sun* 
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Gardengirl
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 5:01pm |
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Google wasn't super helpful, but I have a book with a gazillion uses for vinegar...I'm hoping that a mix of white vinegar and water followed by a gentle wash in proper wool wash liquid MIGHT resolve my problem. (white vinegar seems to solve so many problems so fingers crossed). I'll let you know....
And what happened to the old "sun makes everything go snowy white" business??
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Caro07
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 5:04pm |
Good luck Gardengirl - hope the white vinegar works! I, too, didn't know you couldn't hang wool in the sun so I have clearly had a lucky escape with all my woollens!
I thought that the dry flat instructions were just so that it didn't stretch hanging on the line 
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Caroline, SAHM to 2 boys, S (4 years old) and J (2 years old) 
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Gardengirl
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 5:08pm |
I think that is the case....and I did dry them flat for the first wee while. Then I saw this horrible tea-coloured discolouration and actually hung them in the sun in the hope that it would help. I have to say it didn't make it any worse
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emz
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 5:32pm |
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Woollens in the sun - only applies to white woollens. And woollen blankets are fine I think.
yeah lying flat is just for shape, but the shade thing is most important (well just not direct sunlight). I always pull a sheer curtain across when I'm drying my woollens on the clothes horse.
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AandCsmum
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Posted: 12 September 2009 at 10:26pm |
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Was going to suggest vinegar. Let us know if it works as I need to do some as well
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Kel
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12
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BerryBliss
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 10:22am |
 Maya wrote:
Wow, you learn something new every day! I never knew you couldn't hang wool in the sun. |
Niether did I. Great that i read this as i have a beautiful pure wool handknitted cot balanket that mmy Mum made for Tessa and i would of hung it out in the sun to dry (its white) won't now obviously.
Thanks for this thread 
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Shezamumof3
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 10:41am |
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eeekk, yeah wool has to washed in wool wash, and laid flat in the shade.
Im not sure what you could do to fix it...but I will ask my nana hehe she knows alllll about that kind of stuff!!
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linda
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 11:09am |
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Would you wash say white and light green wool cardies together? They haven't been washed before and am really wanting to put them in the machine at the same time but just not sure about the colour running (the green is like a light green lime)
And I didn't know about not hanging wool in the sun.
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Alex 6 and Harry 8
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MrsH23
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 11:24am |
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Linda, I'm pretty sure that will be fine, Mum normally washes our woolens for us cause she wears a bit of wool/merino. She just throws everything in together on the wool wash, including Ryan's off white merino pj's and there's never been an issue.
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Lisa mummy to Ryan
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Mum_mum
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 11:53am |
I found this out the other day - we have some beautiful light pink hats and cardies, and in osme places you can see a bit of a colour difference now will be drying all woolys in shade from now on!
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peanut butter
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 2:07pm |
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I didnt know that either.
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WRXnKids
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Posted: 13 September 2009 at 3:54pm |
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hmm i so did not know any of that all my woolens get thrown in the wash with everything else and biffed in the dryer from time to time - opps
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Gardengirl
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Posted: 15 September 2009 at 12:09pm |
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Well, I soaked the items in 1 part white vinegar to 12 parts warm water for several hours, then handwashed with a proper wool wash liquid and dried flat overnight. They look heaps better, not completely fixed yet but a huge improvement. So I am soaking them again in a slightly stronger vinegar solution and will see how they are after that.
White vinegar rocks.
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emz
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Posted: 15 September 2009 at 12:55pm |
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glad something worked it's always such a shame when nice stuff like that seems ruined.
I can't believe how many people wash their nice woollen stuff in the machine - my mum and grandma would kill me if i did that!
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T_Rex
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Posted: 15 September 2009 at 1:22pm |
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I told mum and MIL that if they wanted to knit for baby, I was going to machine wash it, so if they wanted it to last they should use machine washable wool. (A little more politely than that though). They took the hint! I think its a bit rough to give new mums extremely delicate items that take time and patience to clean when its just as possible to make them more durable.
Glad the vinegar has mostly worked for you!
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Woolen wash dillema
