I inherited huge amount of sheets, glass jars and other nick nack!
That is not even all of it. Actually A is the one who inherited I was just given those things since all in A's family know how much I like to do crafts and how much I enjoy old utility items.
The person A and his family inherited had one closet full of old white linen and cotton sheets, it was unbelievable. I've never ever seen anyone with such an amount of sheets. A's mom took many of the sheets also A's uncle's wife took a huge pile, but still to me was left to give a humongous pile too.
Most of the sheets have yellowed over time and don't look too fresh. Especially the linen sheets are very yellow, the cotton sheets are a bit better. I've occasionally used chlorite to whiten cotton but I had no idea how it would work on linen. I tryed to google about it but couldn't find any trustworthy info. So I figured I need to try it on my own. I took one pillow case, dilluted the chlorite down with cold water (about 1/20) and sunk the pillow case in the solution.
I waited for two hours or so and rinced the pillow case clean. Then I washed the pillow case and let it dry. And it did turn much whiter. The lace on the side changed to blinding white since that was cotton but the rest of the pillow case looks much much better now too. Here is before and after.
Please ignore the fact that the pillow case is not the same one. I assure you the left one turned equally white as the pillow case on the right and the pillow case on the right was equally yellow as the pillow case on the left. I whitened whole bunch of these pillow cases and sheets after this experiment and I guess I got them mixed up and took photo of the wrong one. Trust me, it worked. Now our bathroom smells like swimming hall. I run out of chlorite so I need to get more before I can continue the whitening.
I guess you must be wondering what I will do with all those sheets. Because you are right I will never need as many sheets and I allready had good white sheets. Thing is that I don't need sheets, I need fabric. There is always a need for good white cotton or linen fabric. Here are just a few ideas that have popped into my head.
- curtains, this and the next one are especially good for the monogramed sheets that I'd like to keep intact
- table cloths
- napkins
- clothes
- chair cover
- ironing board cover
- duvet cover from two sheets
- basket cover, can you notice I'm repeating the term cover here
PS. Could someone tell me if this chlorite is the thing that is often referred as bleach? Or is that something different?
Hi Leena! Just found your blog via Chez Larsson and I like what I see! You're a lady after my own heart - I love to inherit useful stuff and find ways to use it.
ReplyDeleteAbout chlorite/bleach: I'm from the US and we say either 'bleach' or 'chlorine bleach' for the stuff that's used for household purposes, and apparently this is "a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite, NaClO". So I bet what you call chlorite (which is actually Cl02) and what we call bleach is the same thing.
Welcome, I'm happy you found here.
DeleteThanks for the info about the bleach. I was suspecting that.
Those sheets look lovely and you can really see a difference after using the solution. Curtains were the first thing to pop into my head as well. Curious to see what you will turn up!
ReplyDeleteI love using pillowcases for curtains or window shades.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have fun with all that fabric! I'd love to embroider some of that linen.
You know what, one of the sheets has my initials! It's fun coinsidence, A does not know who he/she has been.
DeleteThat is amazing. I hear for delicate things an afternoon in the direct sunlight will work well for yellowed fabric too. I can't wait to see what you do with them.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that too. I don't have much place to hang them where it would shine for many hours. It would be worth trying though.
DeleteThe sheets look lovely. Can't wait what you do with it. Glad the bleaching did work!
ReplyDelete