Tips for whitening towels

justin138 · 16 March 2006 at 4:58PM

I've bought some lovely white towels, but they make my old ones (about 25 years old) look disgusting up against them. :eek:

I use microfibre cloths for cleaning, so won't need them for that. Is it worth dyeing them? I'd only like pale green, or pale lilac so not sure it would "hide" the greyness, and I haven't done any dyeing for years. They still "work" ok, so I don't really want to go out and buy more to replace them all. There's about 10 looking miserable in my linen cupboard. What would YOU do with them?

Jo (Justin's OH) and don't for goodness sake tell him I'm here AGAIN!! Thanks

apprentice_tycoon · 16 March 2006 at 5:07PM

I cut up all my old towels to use as oven cloths. I make squares about the size of face cloths that are hemmed around. If they are a bit too thin you could double the thickness

Mado · 16 March 2006 at 5:11PM

We use ols towels all over the house ... and garage.
Cover your car windscreen in frosty weather....the towell may stand by itself but works a treat for no scraping.
Dry the floor after moping (amazing how really grey it comes out) and generally cleaning rags. Never found better than old flanelette sheets for rags though....

recovering_spendaholic · 16 March 2006 at 5:19PM

Have you tried to get them really white again? I had some success using a solution of steredent tablets and hot water. You mix up 2 - 3 tablets with a bucket of hot water and soak the towels (or other greying whites) in it. Mine came out wonderfully white again. It was a tip in the Sunday Post newspaper many years ago which my Mum saved and passed on to me.

MATH · 16 March 2006 at 5:33PM

If they are 100% cotton with 100% cotton stitching they should dye up well. Pale lilac/green should mask any dingyness but would not cover any stains IMO. Check the condition to make sure if they are worth the trouble of dying them. I say that because my towels are 15 years old and so freyed they are fringed LOL But then I have a top loader and the agitator bashes the life out of them so maybe yours are in better nick.

justin138 · 16 March 2006 at 5:41PM

Have checked - seem worthy of dyeing

Somehow, in the very back of my mind, I feel I "deserve" new ones - someone kick me! Am off to find threads on dyeing now. Don't want to ruin them!

Thanks to all the replies.
Jo

apprentice_tycoon · 16 March 2006 at 5:55PM

I dyed some greying white ones for the kids to take to university - I decided that navy blue was the best choice all things considered, the towels were great but because the stitching was a polyester it came out light blue.

justin138 · 16 March 2006 at 6:39PM

I'm thinking of dyeing my dingy white towels a pastel colour - see my towel thread.

Will I need to wash them separately after dyeing them? If so, dyeing won't be worth it cos of the price of dye etc. I've got 5 bath towels and 8 hand towels to dye.

From Dylon website: One pack of Machine Dye will dye 500g/1lb dry weight fabric - 3 to 4 hand towels or 1 bath towel. If you want to dye more than 500g towels altogether, that's fine, just use the same amount of salt but increase the number of packs of dye according to weight.

Don't try to dye more than half the recommended capacity of your washing machine, fabric needs space to swish around and absorb dye evenly.
Have to do a dye wash, then a 95o wash too.

Need someone to tell me that dingy towels are FINE and not to worry really

Jo (Justin's OH)

monkmorency · 16 March 2006 at 6:49PM

I know it's not very OS, but you could try something like 'Glo White' on them

I recently 'inherited' some, and tried it on a washer load of whites. The towels I did definitely look much better than the ones I didn't do.

It could take a lot of dye to do that many towels. Although dying them would be more fun of course!

MATH · 16 March 2006 at 7:01PM

I died some old towels 'hot pink' for Little Miss MATHLETT about 8 years ago and after the first couple of washes I started to chuck them in with all the other brights. Eight years on they are still going strong, havn't faded and we are not all wearing shades of pink and mauve. LOL

auditbabe · 16 March 2006 at 7:10PM

justin138 wrote:

I'm thinking of dyeing my dingy white towels a pastel colour - see my towel thread.

I dyed my old white towels last year I choose navy to match the bathroom and they still look great. It was cheaper than buying new ones and I've had no problemss with the dye. Four the first couple of washes they were done separately. :j

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Tips for whitening towels

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