Anyone Else Use Bluing?

[westyslantfront]

Bluing

Hi Mike....what bluing products are now available in the UK??....also we have liquid starch, "Linit" already prepared. I have used it on curtains. I put liquid starch in small dishtub mixed with water, slosh items in it, spin damp dry, then straight onto the ironing board for nice crisp finish.
For bluing it is Mrs. Stewarts. Love her picture on the bottle.

 

[westyslantfront]

Toggle's Whites

Hi Steve. Are your whites white? Don't forget the bluing in the whites. I use bluing in wash cycle otherwise, if I use in rinse cycle, I cannot use fabric softener as the "oily" fabric softener will cause blue to stain the whites.

Our Lady of the Laundry Room

 

[toggleswitch]

oh yes there is no mercy on water consumption to get them dazzling bright!

I even have a large 25 quart/litre SS pot that is dedicated to boil-washes on the gas stove.

I am not exactly my mother where dirt is my personal arch-enemy, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

Whites, deluxe treatment:

Pre wash in F/L with dishwasher detergent.
Boil wash with H/E Tide.
Extract.
T/L wash with liquid detergent.
Add bleach last 5 minutes.
T/L rinse, maybe two.
F/L rinses (short cycle, three water changes).
High speed extract
Dry

Cheapy non-waxy softener in first rinse
Vinegar in second.

My mother used to wash all the sox by hand with bar soap, then pre-wash in machine. I'm not that inclined.

 

[peterh770]

I guess we can buy Bluette online...

http://www.walco-linck.com/bluette.html

 

[peterh770]

Bluette is used in the wash cycle? And the tint remains through multiple frontloader rinses?

 

[knitwits1975]

La France Bluing was my favorite product. It's safe for whites and colors, all temperatures, and septic tanks. I used it as recently as 1999 when I lived by Vail, Colorado, But haven't used it or even seen it here in Washington state, I've lived here since the fall of '99. I'll keep my eyes open. I just want to warn you all of one thing though, If you can find it, and want to try it, don't ever pour it directly on the clothes. Fill the machine and let the agitation mix it, then introduce the clothes. If you have a front loader, always use the dispenser.

 

[veg-o-matic]

I have a bottle of Mrs. Stewart's, but I generally forget to use it. My usual method of "bluing" is to throw a pair of jeans in with the whites...

veg

 

[toggleswitch]

Great minds think alike. I actually do that too.

Veg, have we ever heard about your washer and dryer or even seen pics?

 

[partscounterman]

Blueing and whites.

I used to be positivlly slavish when it came to the whites. I used to have the Kenmore ZTriple dispenser DD washer. All my whites got presoaked in liquid Tide, Main wash in Powdered Tide, hot water. fast agitation. This was followed by a blueing rinse, using a helthy squirt of Mrs Stewarts which is available every pllace I've lived so far. Always mix the bluening with some water in a large glass or small pail and add it just as agitation begins. I would then use wateva fabric softner in the last rinse. A woman I knew from Texas told me some bluning in your wrench water would make your whitest E-maculate!

Now, polynesian paralysis has set in and I'm a bit less demanding. I find that the front loader does get stains out of white fabrics better, but they are a bit overall less white. I no longer use blueing because I'm not sure how to do it successfully with a front loader. I tried it once and it was streak city.

David-sorry fo spell bad, but I just had a glass of Boones farm!

 

[DADoES]

Hope you didn't spill any on your white shirt!  ;-)

 

[veg-o-matic]

Tog, Connie has made an appearance in another thread, though I've never taken a picture of Phil.

Come on--a boy needs some secrets, wouldn't you agree?

veg

 

[kenmore1978]

Wine

"David-sorry fo spell bad, but I just had a glass of Boones farm!"

So do you prefer it over Annie Green Springs?

 

[toggleswitch]

Veg:

----I supppose

 

[tomturbomatic]

Consumer Reports, among others in the 50s, said that recently introduced fabric softeners would put a yellowish coating on clothes that dulled whites and bright colors so bluing was added to many softeners to counteract the dulling effects. I wonder if that is why the bottled liquid starches were blue?

Does anyone remember growing a salt garden on coal? Mrs. Stewart's was added to the water.

OOH! OOH! Does anyone remember those magic rock gardens where you got a small, approx. (4" L X 3" H X 1" D) rectangular plastic tank, water glass (sodium silicate) and some small chunks of colored solids? You put the chunks in the tank filled with water glass and they started to become stlagmites, growing into colored spires in the tank over a period of days. After that there was not much action and they would break if jostled. I just checked and they are still being made by the son of one of the two brothers who invented them.

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/magicrocks.htm

 

[kenmore1978]

growing rocks

Yep, sure do remember those, had a set. If one didn't have a deep enough container, they would form flat "pads" when they reached the surface of the water