I have an "absolute desperation/last ditch/end of your rope" solution to mouldy linen. My Mom and I came across this in a Hints from Heloise (we think, it could have just been something in the local paper) We had some white linen, with white embroidery table runners, that were in awful condition, but they were made by a family member, and tried everything to get the stains out. We used this, since the other option was to throw them out, which would have been bad.
If this is sewn with silk thread..don't do this. We washed the pieces in an enzyme detergent, at the time that was "Era" Shout might be the same thing now. Wash it a few times, and rinse *very* well. Then, take a plastic tub, fill it with warm water and throw in a few Efferdent denture cleaning tablets (get the plain ones, not the ones with listerine in them) then toss in the linen, and swirl and let it sit overnight, just like a pair of dentures. Rinse *very* well again, and let it hang dry. That got out ninety percent of the mold and mildew stains. We did it a second time, and I couldn't see any stain remaining after that. But this was severely moldy (had been in a damp basement for 30 years) Caveat: I don't know what this does to the longevity of the fibers, I suspect that it's fairly destructive. But, we're gentle with the table runners now, we keep them packed in acid free boxes with acid free paper when they're not in use. But...we also expect to keep them for at least another 30 years. I don't expect that a smock/chemise will be kept that long. Hopefully one of the other methods will work for you, as I said this is a last ditch method. In service, Robert of Stonemarche _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
