School uniform problem

lesleystrawson

My daughter's new school has a white polo shirt with a large bright yellow school emblem in one corner.
I have now today been warned my several friends that if I put the top into a washing machine at a 60 degree wash, the yellow will run like hell and I will end up with a pale yellow top (not nice).

Obviously I can attempt to wash it at 30/40 degrees, but I guess the Ribena/gravy may not come out then!

Any ideas?

Madmel

My DDs white socks were a yucky shade of grey in a 40 degree wash until I used Ecover laundry bleach. You add about a tablespoon to your wash and it makes a massive difference.

I'd wash the polo shirt at 35 or 40 with some of that in. Hopefully, the yellow will stay fixed, and the gravy/ribena will come out

ivyleaf

Dylon make some stuff called "Colour Seal" - if you wash the polo shirt in it, it should prevent the yellow from running. I've used it in the past (my son's school rugby shirt was black and white!) and it worked really well! It says "do not use on white cotton fabrics", but the rugby shirt was white cotton!

HTH.

pavlovs_dog

there's some old wives trick of using salt water to help colourfastness IIRC :think:

pavlovs_dog

although, having just googled, this may be an old wives tale

Salt to make dyes colorfast: Today's dyes cannot be increased in colorfastness by soaking in salt water. If bleeding of a particular dye in cotton, rayon, or ramie fabric is decreased with a salt water soak, the effect will not be permanent, When the fabric is wet again, unless there is salt in the solution, the dye will be free to leave the fabric. Salt cannot affect colorfastness of synthetic fiber fabrics or their blends because they are dyed with dyes that have chemical structures not affected by salt.

taken from here

SnowyOwl_2

How idiotic of the shirt makers! OK, so it doesn't resolve the issue immediately, but I think a smartly worded letter letting them know of this is in order. How this is suitable for a school uniform seems a bit of a mystery...

In the meantime, is the emblem removable so that you can wash it separately to get the excess dye out, then sew it back on?

There is also a product on the market called Colour Catcher - that might rescue the situation if the emblem runs into the rest of the shirt/rest of the wash. I've seen it on the supermarket shelf where the Vanish and products like that are.

Essex-girl_2

Not really os but this works for me.

I only wash whites at 40 and for any stains I use ace bleach. I use it sparingly and generally only on whites so a bottle lasts ages.

I think I read on here recently that hot washing whites can make them go yellowy over time.

sarahlouise210

lesleystrawson wrote:

but I guess the Ribena/gravy may not come out then!

Any ideas?

I always find an apron works wonders for stopping Ribena and Gravy stains! My youngest does not think anything of it ...comes home..on goes the Apron!! Saves dinner and felt tip stains!

foreverskint

Biological washing powders are meant to be used at 40oC not higher.

I only ever wash at 40 and don't really have any problems with stains. If I do, I find that Lidls stain remover works well, and I also add some washing soda in with the powder.

Washing at 40 also saves your energy costs too.

FrugalJo

Hi Lesley

I have a muck magnet DS who at 9 still manages to get everything on everything !
I too wash polo shirts at 40 degrees, but any stain gets a dousing with cheap hairspray five minutes before washing. Gets most things out even good on grease and tomato based spots. Sometimes it takes two washes on dark colours.
HTH
Jo

lesleystrawson

Thanks for all of these! Shall leave the shirts languishing in the bottom of the washing pile (good job I've got a few spares!) until I can pop out and get some product(s) to try.