Advice - stained old linens
 

In cleaning out my Mom's belongings I found a box with old pillowcases and old store bought aprons. Some of the aprons had paper store price tags attached with straight pins. Based on the location of the store, I think these items may have been given to my Mom by my grandmother who died in the early 1960's.

Some of the pillowcases are badly stained with age related dots. They feel brand new and unwashed. I think it's possible my grandmother made them with "pillowcase fabric", the kind with the edge printed on it. Some of the brand new (with tags) aprons also have stains, brownish yellowish ones. Some are unscathed.

I've washed the pillowcases and one of the aprons. The stains did not come out. I am line drying them.

I have no immediate need for any of this so I'm tempted to just put them in my attic for another day. Will this cause the stains to set any further? I'd rather not go to great lengths to clean them right now. I'd rather wait until I need to use them, if I ever do...

Thanks.

Here's some pics for those who like vintage. The blue bordered pillowcase is not bad, the one that's mostly white has those bad lines on it and the gorgeous blue and pink one is a mess.

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Hi Kenmore gal,
Google cleaning stained old linens. There is a few sites with helpful information on cleaning these. I would think that you might make a mistake by leaving the stains in and having them eat up your treasures.

I am so sorry to hear of your mom's passing. It is a very hard thing to handle. I hope you are taking good care of yourself and have many friends to help you though it.

To be honest with you, I owned a white damask tablecloth that I never used. One day I pulled it out and it had all yellow stains on it. At that time I googled how to remove them and was overwhelmed with the scope of the task. I got rid of the tablecloth instead. I'm hoping someone on this board can personally recommend a quick and easy fix that worked for them, if such a thing exists.

I too, have a treasure of pillow cases that are stained with age... So will be watching to see what you come up with to remove the age spots....

Try using ZOUT you can find it in the laundry aisle. Not every store carries it. I like the foaming one best. Try it on a couple first

Did it actually work for you Terry??

Try soaking them in the bath tub with retro clean ( you can find it in quilt stores or on line). It may take 4 or 5 days of soaking to do the job. I've had great results with antique quilt tops. Do NOT use bleach...or the fabric may crumble.

Thanks Francie.

Let me re-ask a question though. At this point I have no use for these items but of course I don't want to discard them either. I am a bit time pressed right now. If I washed them and put them in my attic (still stained) will my job of cleaning them be harder in the future? In other words, will further storage cause further staining?

Rather than just wash, I would recommend using RetroClean. Cindy Needham (Wholecloth Linen Quilts book) recommends this very highly. You may be amazed at how good they look, and may find a use for them. Cindy makes beautiful quilts from them.