Silk ? Trousseau from 1940 - How To Clean

Oops! Quirky is quite correct - chlorine is often unkind to silk. Which is why I said "fearless," however, I should have been more explicit.

 

DO NOT use bleach. It destroys material.
If it was organic in origin, you could spot with a little peroxide. And then soak.

The neighbor's boy was 2 weeks older than mine. We both used cloth diapers. When they were about a year old I happened over while she was folding the diapers. Hers were in tatters. I asked her what happened to them. She said she used bleach to whiten them. That is when I stopped using bleach.

I still have some of my son's diapers 29 years later, still white and soft. Used for dust cloths now. I soaked in Borax and used white vinegar as a rinse. (I am not recommending the vinegar for silk)



If the spots do not come out. You can dye the material using either coffer or tea. Simply soak, swishing every so often to avoid crease marks. Line dry when they are the color you like. They do not get very dark - (maybe my coffee wasn't strong enough).

 

You can dye the material using either coffee or tea

Light brown underwear may look like a distributed accident. Just sayin'.

 

My excellent dry cleaner, who specialises in Indian silks and embroideries, recommends Fairy Liquid for hand washing silk. I use a special liquid detergent for silk if I use the handwash cycle on my washing machine, but I don't know if you can get them over there. (I do find US washing machines far too harsh!)

 

It probably hasn't made it across the Pond. I've seen most things but never that.

 

Looks like these articles have good advice here for antique fabrics, but I didn't see anything about washing silk...

https://reallyhandmade.com/how-to-clean-antique-lace-and-other-delicate-fibers/
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/16/garden/washing-fragile-textiles-by-hand.html

Here's a product for antique linens that has good reviews on Amazon but may not be suitable for silk...

http://www.amazon.com/Restoration-Hypoallergenic-Powder-Antique-Delicate/dp/B002ISCPD2

 

Interesting! This is what we get to buy: https://www.persil.co.uk/laundry-products/silk-wool/

or - there's also a Stergene one, an Ecover one, Waitrose (supermarket) have an own branded one, and there's many more.

They all work in our typically front loader washing machines, which do hand wash cycles. I've a Bosch and it does cashmere and silk really well.

 

Hmm, there's an Ecover Natural Delicate Wash liquid available on the U.S. Amazon site. It says it's safe for silk.

http://www.amazon.com/Ecover-Natural-Delicate-Wash-Liquid/dp/B007RGB9RS

I think I've seen Ecover products at Whole Foods, too, but don't know if they carry this one.

 

Ecover is good stuff.

 

Well, I missed the last 5 or 6 posts as we were out of town. Thanks so much for your responses.

Yesterday I bought a box of BIZ at WalMart. Using a whisk, I dissolved a cup (the one that comes in the BIZ box) of BIZ in hot water in a plastic container, then added about a gallon of coldish water. Then I added 1/4 cup of Dawn detergent.

I wet the bloomers under the tap before putting them in the solution. I let them soak overnight--about 12 hours total. Then I rinsed them--took a LOT of rinsing to get all the soap out. A faint/trace amount of spots remain in the worst area if you look very closely--they may have disappeared completely if I'd let them soak longer. Although it may not look like it in the photos, the area around the top button came completely clean.

The undies are definitely silk.

Here's the cleaning and here are the results:

 

Looks much better --

 

Wow, ascot! Great job!

 

Looking good! Nice going, ascot!