Any laundry Gurus out there?

[DarkImage4]

My wife and I are the proud owners of the Scattered Mickey Bedding collection from last year's Disney Catalog. This is the one with mostly red background and the Mickey parts sewn into it. Due to lack of use and an impending move they just got washed this week for the first time.

Here's the problem, although the duvet came out unscathed, our pillow shams did not fare quite as well.

My wife called me about an hour ago, slightly upset, to tell me that Mickey's gloves were now pink.

Does ANYONE know how to restore the white parts of the shams without destroying the red portions? As a back up I've already called the Disney Catalog, and they no longer have these in stock, so if we cannot fix these, then we'll no longer have our complete set.

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!!

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[tigsmom]

Well you could try ebay to get a new set,
but if you are very careful you may be able to bleach the offending pink parts. I've had to do this to a number of items. Take a small amount of bleach in a cup...using a small paintbrush carefully paint the pink away. If need be cover the surrounding areas to keep any drips and splashes away.
Next time you wash it...use cold water and the additive they have that keeps colors from bleeding. (sorry I don't know the name of it off hand, but I bought it in the grocery store)

ps: put an old towel between the layers to soak up any bleach and avoid bleaching the second layer.

Good Luck. :wave:

 

[SpongeScott]

good advice, and I might be showing my ignorance here, but shouldn't you dilute the bleach a little? If I'm wrong, I'll never enter a laundry thread again...:lol:

P.S. I'm banished from doing laundry at home after "helping" my wife once!

 

[DarkImage4]

Does anyone think Oxi-Clean would work?

 

[tigsmom]

Originally posted by SpongeScott
good advice, and I might be showing my ignorance here, but shouldn't you dilute the bleach a little? If I'm wrong, I'll never enter a laundry thread again...:lol:

P.S. I'm banished from doing laundry at home after "helping" my wife once!

Straight bleach...but in small amounts and applied very carefully.

You screwed the wash up on purpose didn't you...come on you can tell us. :lol:

My hubby could cook, clean and do laundry by the time hewas a teenager. His mother raised 4 boys...and very well I might add.
I still don't like him to do the wash...I have my own system.

 

[DarkImage4]

It wasn't me, honest, I have no reason to lie about this. My wife put the laundry in last night. And I'm positive she put it on cold. The shams just may not have been completely colorfast.

Oh well....

Trying the e-bay circuit....then I'll go for the bleach paint brush project. Unless other options arise.

 

[Yellow Shoes]

I think I have seen a product from RIT called "dye remover". It is supposed to make the pink underwear white again.

I've always found RIT in the grocery store in the laundry detergent section. It will be on a top shelf in boxes about the size of a Jell-o box

I think I would try this if the bleach doesn't work. (quite honestly, I've never had luck with bleach removing unwanted pinkness). I would use the same paintbrush technique.

 

[SpongeScott]

Originally posted by tigsmom
You screwed the wash up on purpose didn't you...come on you can tell us. :lol:

My hubby could cook, clean and do laundry by the time her was a teenager. His mother raised 4 boys...and very well I might add.
I still don't like him to do the wash...I have my own system.

Did you watch According to Jim Tuesday night?

I forget what I did to the laundry, but she told me she loved me, but I was to NEVER touch the washer again! I do hang them out on a clothesline for her--kinda hard to mess that up.

Now, when it comes to the kitchen, I can cook her under the table. This is a good thing because she would rather clean than cook any day of the week.:lookaroun :hammer:

 

[tigsmom]

Originally posted by SpongeScott
Did you watch According to Jim Tuesday night?

I forget what I did to the laundry, but she told me she loved me, but I was to NEVER touch the washer again! I do hang them out on a clothesline for her--kinda hard to mess that up.

Now, when it comes to the kitchen, I can cook her under the table. This is a good thing because she would rather clean than cook any day of the week.:lookaroun :hammer:

We laughed all the way thru that...When I first got married I couldn't cook so he had to do it. All the men in his family are great cooks. Now he just cooks weekend breakfast and the occasional dinner...the grill is all his. He still scrubs the kitchen floor cause I hate to do that.
He only gets to do the wash if I'm sick in bed & I still give instructions.

 

[Maria]

I am sorry I have no advice on your problem Darkimage... I just wish you luck.

I have an uncle who likes doing the dishes and ironing clothes! I think my aunt is the luckiest woman in the world! He used to do the ironing of my cousin´s school uniforms!

(In a not so serious note, in Spanish slang, "to iron" also means making out...) :animwink:

 

[crazygirley]

Originally posted by DarkImage4
SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!!

My aunt had something similar happen to her once. One of my little cousin's favorite dresses (a pinkish reddish one with lace on the bottom) was stained red when she got fruit punch all over it. The stain wasn't apparent in the pinkish reddish part of the dress, but the lacy part was stained a deep red. My aunt coated the reddish pinkish part with Vaseline on both the inside and outside to coat and water-proof the fabric. She then, with a toothbrush, bleached the lacy part until the stain was gone. It worked perfectly...but she did it REALLY quickly. She then rinsed the lacy part very well, and washed the dress with a TON of detergent to get the Vaseline off. My cousin still wears the dress and you can't even tell. I don't know if this would work in your situation, though! Good luck!

 

[Debbie]

I've always been told that salt added to the wash will set the color. I add tons when I get something in a bold color.
I would try the already recommended bleach trick, and next time bring it to a trusted dry cleaners.
The Queen of Clean's website might have some tips also.

 

[Wckd Queen]

Originally posted by Maria
(In a not so serious note, in Spanish slang, "to iron" also means making out...) :animwink:

This is funny...Im on my way to IRON something to wear to work tomorrow! No, Im really ironing...Im home alone! :lol:

Good luck with the gloves. I would try Tigsmoms bleach idea myself. Or perhaps that Shout prewash? My mother swears by that. Its even gotten oil out of shirts!

 

[DarkImage4]

Thank you all so much for all of your responses....

upon furhter inspection of the damaged items, the white glove part and white border are sewn on top of a solid piece of red material. I'm afraid if I did RIT, bleach etc. it would get into the red under-layer and spread into ares i'd still want red. Especially the border where the red backing would show.

I ended up running them through another wash cycle with OxiClean and lo and behold, a good deal of the pink did go away. Granted, it's not perfect, but it was an inprovement.

I also just saw the shams on ebay (albeit a little over-priced), so I may be doing some bidding. (if my wife lets me )

Thanks again!

 

[tigsmom]

Glad things worked out for you...good luck on ebay. :wave: