Mrs. Stewart's Bluing and Washer Starching

[johnrk]

When I was younger and still worked in hospitals I used to use Mrs. Stewart's bluing on my white cotton lab coats and my all-cotton blue scrubs. I also used to starch these in the washer before ironing, with liquid starch.

I got away from the practice about 25 years ago when I switched to business suits and no longer got down-and-dirty in hospitals. My dress shirts go through the dry cleaner/laundry.

Does anyone on here still use bluing? I know it's still made but people seem to have moved away from it. Is it because whiteners in our modern detergents negate the value or necessity for it? I do have a friend who's a real blue jean lover, who still washes his jeans with a little bluing.

I guess I've just gone the direction of others, using either spray starch or sizing rather than starching in the washer. Does anyone on here still do that? I noticed in the store on the bottle of starch that I saw, that it doesn't even mention washer starching any more. I was doing it in one of my GE Filter-Flo washers; is there any way to do that in a front loader?

 

[dermacie]

I use bluing often , not every week but atleast once a month. Mrs Stewart's bluing. I sometimes put it in the wash water if I don't think I will make for the rinse cycle. I think it has better results in the rinse but it's still noticeable difference in the wash water. I have always wanted to try startchung in the washer but never have BTW.

 

[johnrk]

'Dermacie'

Thanks for your reply! I did it for years in more than one Filter-Flo in more than one home. I was wondering whether it would clog things up these days since so much less water is being used in most machines. It sure beat having to start in the sink or in the bathtub. I still like that type of starching over spraying it on fabric; logic says it'll penetrate better. I use a Swiss Elnapress that I've had for 25 years for most pressing, but have a Rowenta if I feel like sawing back and forth.

Do you only using bluing for your whites, or do you use it for other items?

 

[askolover]

My Miele has a starch cycle. I've never used it though.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Sarching in a front loader

The second deep rinse of our 1965 Westinghouse Laundromat was labeled "Starch." After the final spin, the starch solution was poured into the washer and the timer was reset to the Starch position for starching. My Mieles have a Starch setting on the selector switch. It is one low water level rinse and a spin, 16 minutes total. The starching process in a FL would be much more efficient than in a top loader because less water is used.

 

[lordkenmore]

Closest I've come to starch was when we used starch in paper mache projects during elementary school arts and crafts time.

 

I got a bottle of bluing a few years ago to play with. I can't say I recall it really making much of a difference with the white sheets I was using it on. But the sheets were washed only a few times each summer, they needed mostly freshening, and were getting fairly good care.

 

[frigilux]

My mom used Mrs. Stewart's bluing for loads of whites, adding it (diluted, of course) to the timed fabric softener dispenser on our 1960 Kenmore Model 80. It was fun to watch the bluing come through the holes in the tub when it was dispensed during the rinse fill.

She used Argo starch (which had to be dissolved in very hot / boiling water) and shaved in a square of Satina, which was supposed to make garments easier to iron following the starching process. She'd do the actual starching in a big aluminum dishpan, then pour starch and garments (generally shirts) into the washer and set the machine to Spin Only.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Bluing was also used to color salt gardens grown on a lump of coal.

I remember that powdered bluing like La France went into the wash and liquid like Mrs. Stewart's went into the rinse and they said not to use bluing and bleach in the same water because the bleach would, well, bleach out the bluing.

 

[foraloysius]

The Miele starch cycle is nothing but a rinse and a spin.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Yup, that's what I said, but it is a 16 minute cycle on the W1986 with not as long a max speed spin to leave starch in the fabrics.

 

[brucelucenta]

Starching is definitely something that front load washers excel at. In top load machines, the starch tends to stick in spots and clumps because top loaders are not good at getting rid of sediment anyway. Front loaders do not have that issue and will give you streak free starching for even dark color clothing depending on the starch you use.

 

[lordkenmore]

Dumb question...like I ask any other kind...but how long does Mrs. Stewart last when opened? I found my opened bottle that I bought to play with a few years ago last night, and was thinking if I do any whites I'd try it. But if it's turned toxic, I'd as soon pass... (I know liquid laundry detergent and softener can have problems, but I get the sense that the formula with Mrs. Stewart is simpler, and possibly less to go wrong.)

 

[circlew]

We never used bluing, but my mom would use the Argo powdered starch on certain items, especially curtains and tablecloths. She had a glass jar that it was made up in. Until 1973, we had Westinghouse FL machines - first a '55, then a '64.

 

[launderess]

Mrs. Stewart's Bluing

Will last ages, same as with other bluing.

People are using liquid, ball, cake, powder or whatever laundry blue that is decades old with no ill effects.

What *could* happen in the case of a bottle of liquid bluing not being closed tightly is evaporation of the water content. That would lead to a more concentrated product, and or cause congealing if things went too far.

The soils suspended in water (Ultramarine)such as Bluette probably would suffer more from this than the Prussian bluings such as Mrs. Stewart's.