I once sent an angora knee rug off to a hospital laundry. It came back the size of Twistie packet and stiffer than Peter Garrett's personal resolve. Well it didn't say "Do Not Wash in Extremely Hot Water..."
Bernice, what it would say to you if it could speak is, 'don't ever take me to hospital, or to a nursing home.'
Washed something brand new for daughter in cold water by hand recently and it still ran, like those Indian cottons of the 'seventies that we used to have to add salt to. Also sent a pair of white boardies and a shirt the bluing colour of olden days. My son didn't even notice.
I've always felt that washing instructions are a kind of ambit claim. How many times have you bought some tuff cotton thing only to see, "Hand wash in luke warm water with pure unscented soap only. Dry flat. In shade. Do not wring. Do not ... etc." I think they do it to escape liability for genuine f***ups.
That's exceptionally well spelled, for a label: what they normally say is "seperately". I used to ignore the 'dry clean only' labels, until one day my favourite rayon dress literally fell apart, after one optimistic wash too many.
Really they should have put (no we really mean it). That way you would have known that they were serious and not just having a chuckle at all the harrassed people who have only just glanced at the label before chucking the clothes into the wash. I think we've all thrown garments in and hoped for the best. As Jennifer said, usually you can get away with it. You still can't get away with washing wool jumpers in hot water on regular wash though. Damn it.
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It's best for teenagers, as well. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI once sent an angora knee rug off to a hospital laundry. It came back the size of Twistie packet and stiffer than Peter Garrett's personal resolve.
ReplyDeleteWell it didn't say "Do Not Wash in Extremely Hot Water..."
Bernice, what it would say to you if it could speak is, 'don't ever take me to hospital, or to a nursing home.'
ReplyDeleteWashed something brand new for daughter in cold water by hand recently and it still ran, like those Indian cottons of the 'seventies that we used to have to add salt to. Also sent a pair of white boardies and a shirt the bluing colour of olden days. My son didn't even notice.
But they don't ALWAYS mean that, that's the tricky part. I've had some success with ignoring those instructions (at least the handwash part).
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that washing instructions are a kind of ambit claim. How many times have you bought some tuff cotton thing only to see, "Hand wash in luke warm water with pure unscented soap only. Dry flat. In shade. Do not wring. Do not ... etc." I think they do it to escape liability for genuine f***ups.
ReplyDeleteOh but Jennifer, that was how I got so careless in the first place. Hubris overtook me.
ReplyDeleteSo where are the photos? 'Before' might be tricky, but I'm sure we could extrapolate from 'after'.
ReplyDeleteThat's exceptionally well spelled, for a label: what they normally say is "seperately". I used to ignore the 'dry clean only' labels, until one day my favourite rayon dress literally fell apart, after one optimistic wash too many.
ReplyDeleteWhich also means the same as 'dry clean only' which means that I made a mistake buying it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Really they should have put (no we really mean it). That way you would have known that they were serious and not just having a chuckle at all the harrassed people who have only just glanced at the label before chucking the clothes into the wash. I think we've all thrown garments in and hoped for the best. As Jennifer said, usually you can get away with it. You still can't get away with washing wool jumpers in hot water on regular wash though. Damn it.
ReplyDeleteWhen electricity is rationed everything will be cold hand wash only, by default.
ReplyDeleteSolar hot water systems rock.
ReplyDelete