Summertime in the High Plains is brain fryin’ hot with zero humidity. The consulation to living in such heat is conditions are perfect for sun bleaching. Today’s candidates for a good sun bleach are two of my favorite vintage cloths, both bearing grease stains that are likely fifty years old or more.
The steps to bleaching cloths are 2: layer the cloths on grass and wait. Why this works, I had no idea, until I mentioned sun bleaching in an email to my friend Grace. An encyclopedia of organic knowledge, she educated me that it’s the combination of sun and chlorophyll from the grass that bleaches stains from linen. Seems women of the Victorian era utilized sun bleaching to remove stains from their white tablecloths.
White cloths, I’d learned from research for my new book, because the staid times did not encourage the use of color. Which in a round about way brings up the point of whether sun bleaching also fades a cloth’s colors. My experience has been that the old dyes were so intense, it takes more than a day in the sun to wreak fabric havoc.
The bonus to cloth spread out on a sunny day is the smell of natural heat, and how it lingers in the fabric. Better still is this decidedly un-Victorian but heavenly tip from Grace: Drape a blouse or under girliewear over a lavender bush to dry.
An outdoor sachet for a drying rack!
xxea
What a fabulous tip – thanks for sharing! I am definitely going to have to try that on some of the linens I have here at home!!
Oh, thank you so much for writing! I’d forgotten about the linens out back on the lawn. jeez. Anyway, the cloths are bone clean of grease and stains. And smelling like sunshine and freshly mowed grass. Some kind of naturalistic miracle.
xxea
Just a thought, drape some fancy under-mentionables over your lavender bush to dry. Your neighbors might get a giggle, so make sure they are your Sunday best!!! lol!
>^..^<
I have some aprons I need to do this with. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
For your daily dose of vintage goodness & a bit of silliness, stop by Confessions of an Apron Queen
Oh thanks so much for this tip! you know I use to sit back and try to figure out how did they keep whites so white back then. Not to mention all the pintucks and inlays whew the lace lol sorry getting side tracked here I appreciate the tip.
Peace and Blessings
Cheryl