Stains, washing and finishing

We choose a fabric for its colour, texture, quality and use, so care and maintenance aim to keep those qualities for the fabric's whole life: keeping it free of damage, removing stains and dirt without spoiling the colour, keeping its brightness and feel (soft, stiff or crisp), and removing wrinkles or adding creases where wanted.

Mending comes first: repair cuts, tears and holes; replace buttons, fasteners, ribbons and laces; restitch open seams and hems. Do it before washing, because the strain of washing makes a small tear much bigger.

Laundry means stain removal, preparing and washing the fabric, finishing it (blue and starch), drying, and ironing, so it is ready to store and use.

A stain is an unwanted mark caused by something absorbed into the fabric, which normal washing does not remove. Identify it first, by colour, smell and feel. Types:

• Vegetable stains (tea, coffee, fruit, vegetables) are acidic: remove with an alkaline treatment.
• Animal stains (blood, milk, meat, egg) are protein: use detergent in cold water only, because heat sets protein.
• Oil stains (oil, ghee, butter): use grease solvents and absorbents.
• Mineral stains (ink, rust, coal tar, medicine): treat first in an acid, then in an alkali.
• Dye bleeding (colour from another fabric): dilute alkali or acid, depending on the fabric.

General rules: treat a stain while it is fresh; for an unknown stain, start with the simplest method and move to stronger ones; repeated use of a mild reagent is better than one dose of a strong one; test chemicals on a hidden bit of delicate fabric first; afterwards wash with soap to remove every trace of chemical; dry in the sun, a natural bleach.

Techniques:

• Scraping: lift a built-up stain gently with a blunt knife.
• Dipping: dip the stained part in the reagent and scrub.
• Sponging: lay the stain on blotting paper on a flat surface and dab the reagent on with a sponge.
• Drop method: stretch the cloth over a bowl and put the reagent on drop by drop.

Reagents:

• Grease solvents: turpentine, kerosene, white petrol, methylated spirit, acetone. Use them only in a well-aired place, far from any flame.
• Grease absorbents: bran, Fuller's earth, talcum powder, starch, French chalk.
• Emulsifiers: soaps and detergents.
• Acids: vinegar (acetic acid), oxalic acid, lemon, tomato, sour milk, curd.
• Alkalis: ammonia, borax, baking soda.
• Bleaches: oxidising (sunlight, javelle water, hydrogen peroxide) and reducing (such as sodium hydrosulphite).
• Examples (new): chewing gum or adhesive tape: harden with ice, scrape off, then use a solvent; candle wax: soak in cold water, scrape off, dip in white vinegar; a curry (turmeric and oil) stain: wash with soap and water, then bleach in the sun; rust: soak in oxalic acid and rub.

Removing dirt. Dirt is grease, grime and dust caught in the fabric. Loose dirt shakes, brushes or soaks off; dirt held by sweat and grease needs a reagent: a solvent, an absorbent (both are dry cleaning), or an emulsifier.

• Water wets the fabric; the movement of its particles lifts non-greasy dirt, and warm water works better, especially on grease. But water alone cannot dissolve grease or keep dirt suspended, so dirt settles back on the fabric (redeposition), the main cause of greying.
• Soaps (from natural oils or fats and an alkali) and detergents (made from chemicals) are surfactants: they lower the surface tension of water so it soaks in faster, emulsify grease into tiny droplets, and keep dirt suspended until it is rinsed away.
• Soap is gentler on skin, biodegradable and kinder to rivers, but wasteful in hard water and weaker. Detergents work in hard water and can be designed for each task and machine.

Methods of washing, chosen by fibre, yarn, construction and the size of the article:

• Friction: rubbing by hand, with a brush, or on a scrubbing board. For strong fabrics like cotton; never for silk, wool, pile, loops or embroidery.
• Kneading and squeezing: gentle pressure that does not harm colour or weave; for wool, silk, rayon and coloured items, but not for heavy dirt.
• Suction: a suction washer pressed up and down in a tub of soap solution; for towels and big, heavy items.
• Washing machines: manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic, all working by agitation; time depends on fabric and dirt.

Finishing: first rinse until no soap remains. Then:

• Blue (powdered ultramarine or liquid) in the last rinse counters yellowing of white cottons, but not greying. Mix powder blue just before use (it settles and gives patches); dip the article thoroughly wet, not dripping, and free of folds, move it briefly, then dry.
• Optical brighteners absorb invisible light and give it off as visible light, so they counter both yellowing and greying, even on coloured prints. They are not bleaches: they cannot remove colour.
• Starch (from maida, rice, arrowroot, tapioca; cooked before use) gives body, smoothness and shine to cotton and linen only, and keeps dirt off the fibre. Thin fabrics need heavy starch; thick fabrics need light starch. For dark cottons, add a little blue or tea so no white patches show.
• Gum acacia (from the babool tree, soaked overnight and sieved) gives light crispness to silk, fine cotton and rayon; gelatin is easy but costly; a little borax in starch melts under the iron into a water-repellent film that keeps crispness even in humid weather.