PFD - How To Care For Your Clothes

81. Extend the life of your wardrobeWorks Cited Gentzler, Yvonne S. and Louise A. Liddell. “Caring for Clothes.” Building Life Skills. Tinely Park, Illinois: 2003. Pages 429 -437. Stone, Jan. “Clothing and Textiles.” Home and Family. Iowa State University. 9 December 1996. <http://www.extension.iastate.edu/homefamily/clothing/>.

Notes de l'éditeur

Today we’re going to talk about basic clothing care or ‘doing the laundry’. We’ll discuss the following key points: care labels, how to sort, treating stains, water temperatures, washing and machine washing, drying and tumble drying.
Let’s begin with a simple pre-quiz to see how much you know about care labels. If you know the answer to any of these questions please raise your hand and I will call on you. Identify the following care label symbols. Here’s the first, can anyone tell me what symbol this is? Correct – this symbol is the universal symbol for washing. It can vary with different symbols within it and under it. For example, the symbol for hand-washing has a hand in it. Here’s the second, can anyone identify this symbol?Correct – this symbol is the universal symbol for drying. It too can vary with different symbols within and under it. Last question, what do the dots within the symbols indicate?Correct – the dots represent setting for temperature. One means cold, two means warm, and three means hot.
So about care labels! The most important thing you can take from this lecture is that it’s so important to read the care label!The care label will be your best friend when it comes to doing the laundry.The care label is located on the neck of your garment or if you have a tagless shirt it will be on the inside and back of your shirt. The care label is going to tell you a few things like how to wash and dry your clothes, the temperature in which wash and dry, how to bleach, how to iron and if your clothing requires dry cleaning. Here’s a helpful link on some common care symbols and what they mean. I encourage you to print it out for your reference.
Now we get on to sorting. Sorting is the most time consuming step in caring for your clothes. It’s important to sort your clothes because this will enable to to find any stains or damages that should be taken care of before washing your clothes. Sorting will also help you in avoiding any laundry mishaps. I think we all have seen or experienced with a red article makes it’s way to our pile of white socks! – it turns everything pink. You can begin with becoming familiar with your garment’s label. Then you can sort your clothes by the type of fabric it is made out of, it’s weight, color and you can observe how dirty it is by just handling the garment.
Here are some examples of piles you can make. Whites – these are your socks, undergarments like undershirts and underwear.Brights – your bearkat shirts, oranges and reds (remember: when in doubt - )Lights – Pastels, light blues, light purplesDarks – these can be your blues, greens and purples. Make sure you put your pinkish purples in with your brights.Delicates – these can sometimes be your fine undergarments, table linens can be made into a separate pile, but they are delicate as well.Heavily soiled items – like your work clothes, maybe your muddy jeans or dirty aprons.Linens – include your bed sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers.Towels – body towels, wash cloths, hand towels.Lint-givers – flannels, fleece
If possible, treat your stains as soon as possible. It’s important to note that stains should be treated before washing. Washing your clothes before treating them can permanently set stains in. There are two basic types of stains:First, oil-based. These stains can come from tar, candle wax, motor oil, grease, fat, salad dressing, butter and margarine. Make sure to use a spot/stain remover on these. Little trick for the fatty stuff. I once got a bit of Pam (the cooking spray) on my apron. What I did was lay it flat on the ironing board and put cornstarch over the spot and let it sit for a while. The cornstarch absorbed the fat, and no more stain. Another tip if your stain isn’t so bad and don’t have spot remover is to use your detergent. If you have dry detergent take a little bit in your hand add a few drops of water and make it into a paste. You rub this into a stain. Or if you have liquid detergent take a bit of it and rub the stain with the bit of detergent. The other type of stain is water-based. Most of your soft drinks, teas, and fruit juice can come out with just normal washing.
Before we get to washing, we need to know how to set the washer. It’s important to read your garment’s the label. It will tell you how to set the temperature for your wash. Hot water is usually gets clothes clean fastest and is considered best for getting the germs out. Remember only use this for very dirty clothes or linens because hot water is very energy consuming. Also, be careful with this setting as it can shrink your clothes!Warm water removes wrinkles and is best for colorfast darks. It’s best for your jeans. And it cleans almost as well as hot water without the fading or shrinking.Cold water can be used on most clothing. It’s best for delicates and items that shrink. Bright colors are usually washed with cold water because the temperature keeps them from bleeding.
Finally, washing. Your care label will instruct you in how to wash your clothes. There are two types of washing. First, hand washing. Hand washing can be used for your delicate clothing, or garments that are loosely woven or knitted like sweaters. Wool also requires hand washing. Your garment will tell you through it’s label if it should be hand washed.Second, machine washing. This is what we are most familiar with.
It’s important to read the directions on the back of your detergent box or bottle. It will tell you exactly how much to put in for the type of load you are washing. The care label will tell you the water temeperature, as we already discussed, and the cycle instructions or how to set your washing machine. Remember not to overload the washer! Overloading can wrinkle your clothes and leave your clothes dirty. Water and detergent should be able to move around your garments freely to wash. Also remember that pre-treated garments should be pre-washed. This is usually an extra cycle at the beginning of the regular cycle. Most washing machines can be set for pre-washing.
Now that we’ve washed, we’re going to dry. Your care label will tell you exactly how to dry your clothes. There are three types of drying:Line drying – on a clothesline, delicate items can be set to dry like this. Flat drying – putting your clothes on a flat surface to dry. Garments that can shirt or stretch out of shape, like sweaters or cardigans, should be laid flat to dry. Lastly, Tumble drying. This is what most of us are used to – our automatic dryers.
Before tumble drying it’s important to read your label. It will indicate the temperature to set your dryer at and how to set your dryer’s tumble. Tumble drying is the quickest way to dry – it takes a normal load about 25 to 30 minutes to dry. Like your washer, you don’t want to overload the dryer. You clothes can wrinkle, or worse stay damp. Damp clothes is a breeding ground for mildew and odors. Make sure you take your clothes out of the dryer, and fold or hang your clothes, to keep it from getting wrinkled.
With that you’ve completed a whole load of laundry. Remember to be familiar with the care labels because it’s the key to preserving your clothes. Because you’ve taken the type to shop for your clothes and spend money on items that you like so preserving your garments will save you money and allow you to keep your clothes looking new!

PFD - How To Care For Your Clothes

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