BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cleaning Washing Antique Linens?

Years ago I saw a "recipe" for washing antique linens. I think it included either Dove dish liquid or Ivory Liquid for dishes, and one other ingredient. Does anyone know what the ingredients are?

It's Dove dishwashing soap (liquid) and powdered Clorox 2. It's 1 part Dove, 1 part Clorox 2 and 1 part warm water (not hot). It can take 1-3 weeks to remove the stain in this liquid and you need to watch the water level (due to evaporation).

This is a variation on a non-antique linen recipe that is a god-send. That one is 1 c. powdered Cascade dishwashing detergent, 1 c. powdered Clorox 2 and 5 gallons (or a slop sink full) of your tap's hottest water--soaking the clothing overnight and then laundering them in the washer. But this one is too harsh for the antiques.

Thank-you so much, Heather. I have several antique doilies, dresser scarves, etc., that were my Mother's and they are so precious to me that I didn't want to take a chance washing them in anything too harsh. At the same time, I really want to get the old spots and yellowing out if I can.

If you're going for white vs. ivory, you could also wet them and let them sit in the sun... for days to weeks. It will "sun bleach" them--but they will be white, not ivory, when finished.

Some lemon juice adds to the whitening process, but will also break down the fibers--so it's a good addition for newer fabrics, but not antique ones.