2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

enkeltliv

I don't have any spends to report nor coupons spent. I had hoped to be able to say of a charity shop door curtain but with the prices of a 90 inch drop around £15 means that the charity shop route isn't a viable route for me. I'm thinking about a patchwork outer with a fleece lined backing but watch this space. If I can get a sheet outer that will come in far cheaper. I just need to think differently in terms of how I go about this. I suppose a lot of people are wanting second had curtains just the noo and what with the overheads being increased for the charities, it's to be expected.

Laura_Elsewhere

@enkeltliv, yes it's not the time of year to be snaffling a real curtain-bargain!

You could look at a pair of curtains, and sew them one above the other - that's what I'm doing for our hallway. We snaffled a set of four second-hand ones last year on eBay and two are in the bedroom window and the other two will be made into one tall one. 

So maybe you could find a pair of nice velvet curtains being sold cheap as one is damaged or something, as you wouldn't need the full amount of both... 

Auntycaz

I sewed 2 x curtains together for a door curtain but I did it as a double thickness rather than doing double the length as my door has a large area of window and the extra thickness made quite a lot of dfference in keeping out the draught. If you can't sew you could instead fasten some slightly shorter curtains behind your regular curtains by means of curtain hooks fastened to the lower line of the curtain tape where you would normally attach separate curtain linings. Hope I've explained that clearly. The way energy prices are going up every little bit helps.

CapricornLass

Was the charity door curtain a thin one then?  Only unless you have all the materials to hand, then you may find that you haven't saved very much.

I can vouch for adding shorter curtains (in my case, curtain linings) to the back of a curtain using the lowest line of the curtain tape and curtain hooks.  I did that in our first house.   That had no central heating at all, and it really helped.

Cherryfudge

Hello one and all, I’m hoping your collective wisdom and insight can tell me what’s going on here please!

This is a linen/cotton top that I wore in the hot weather and afterwards discovered a pattern of yellowing where it had rubbed against me. I thought maybe there was a reaction with either sweat or sun cream.

Washing it made no difference so today I tried it in laundry bleach and as soon as it touched the solution, all these pink marks appeared! Reckoning I had nothing to lose, I let it soak about 10 minutes, rinsed it, washed it with detergent and… the yellowing has gone but the pink remains! Not in the same areas as the yellow, either.

I have no idea if

it’s rescue-able (possibly not) but what on earth is going on?

I can see some of the staining is inside the edge of the neck - possibly a binding if different fabric - but that doesn’t account for the sleeves.

PipneyJane

Weird, @Cherryfudge.  All I can say is that it is some sort of chemical reaction but to what, I have no idea. What type of bleach did you use?  Chlorine based or hydrogen peroxide (aka "oxy...")?

Worst case scenario, you could always dye it.  

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge, good lord, how weird! I've never come across this.... I would keep the top if it's comfortable and a nice shape, and then either dye it sometime, or else when you next have something red that's new, wash them together and the excess red dye might dye the top pinker...! 

If you do buy dye, I've found that Dylon machine dye is excellent but almost never on offer anywhere... but worth using the good dyes so you don't then have other stuff turning pink!
I think I'd dye it a mid-to-dark colour. Red? Rosewood?

Cherryfudge

Even weirder, this is the neck of the top after an hour in the sun - the pink is mostly gone! I’ve spread it to get maximum light and it’s still fading! 

CapricornLass

Well, I don't have any ideas about the causes of the pinkness either, but  the sun is a very effective shifter of stains.  Its one of the reasons why baby's nappies are hung out in the sunshine!

If you spread a garment out in hot sunshine, and pour boiling water from on high over the stain, the sun will often sort the stain out where other stain removers have failed.

skogar

Couldn't resist giving this a google. I've seen bleach turn coloured clothes pink but not white ones - thought it must be a reaction of the bleach with something - but what? Did find the following.

"Although bleach will normally remove unwanted colour, it is possible that it can cause white clothing to turn pink. 

This is a chemical chain reaction that normally occurs if you’ve been wearing sunscreen that’s rubbed off onto your clothes. The bleach reacts with the sunscreen, causing a bright pink colour to appear. 

This isn’t quite as easy to remedy but rinsing the clothing and then soaking in vodka can be very effective and works rapidly. 

Hanging the clothes outside in bright sunshine may also make the pink patches completely vanish."