Degree in washing clothes

It’s the first week of your college life and you just came back to your room after an emotional see off to your parents, but you are confident and enthusiastic about that independent life you always wondered about, lying in bed at your parent’s house. You set your bag for your big first day tomorrow and then you decide of washing your clothes. Putting all the formal shirts and tee-shirts in a bucket with detergent and leave it to soak. Talking to yourself it isn’t as difficult as mom made it sound. All those times when she told you to learn a few house chores.

That is just the beginning! In the coming weeks, you learn about the ‘sunlight and colored clothes’ relationship, the theory of shrinking clothes, the phenomenon of bleeding fabrics, and you start wondering if you came whether you came to figure out engineering or the art of washing clothes without rendering them unwearable. So, if you’re a college student then you’re at the right place for your guide to washing the most common college student clothes.

Why do we need to know the fabrics?

First, understand properly how to take care of the fabric before washing the fabric. Then it may damage the cloth or cause it to discolor. Â

Some clothes require a longer period of machine washing. Others may get elongated due to excessive turning in the washing machine. Some fabrics need to be washed in warm water others require cold water. Few types of fabrics are not fit to be washed by detergents and require mild soaps or shampoo instead. Woolens or sweatshirts need liquid detergents.

So here we come to the realization that we need to do some type of laundry separation before we wash the clothes.

Common laundry related problems faced by college students.

• Bleeding of the fabrics.
• Stretching of clothes.
• Discoloration on soaking.
• Fading on drying in sun.
• Stiffness of some fabrics.
• Wear of fabric due to wrong temperature

How to sort laundry clothes?

Most important step to wash different fabrics to separate them beforehand so that you can decide which fabrics can be washed together without damaging them but still reducing the batches of clothes. Tip: Use different drawstring bags for different fabrics.

Separation based on color and die used.

• Whites, cream, and light colors should be washed together.
• Indigo Dye and blue dyed clothes: Deep-blue and navy-blue colored clothes should only be washed with these types of clothes.
• Red Dye and pinks: They bleed most and often give a pink color to light colored clothes if not washed separately.
• Blacks: They bleed so these should not be washed with whites.

Separation based on type of fabric

• Light fabrics: These include linen, cotton, chiffon, mesh lace chiffon.
• Heavy fabrics: velvet, suede, tweed, wool, denim, toweling.

Washing of fabrics.

Divide according to the most common things that students own and then divide them into different fabrics.

• Shirts, tees, tops and bodycon dresses

Polyester, Cotton, Polyester cotton blend, Linen

• Pants, Trousers and chinos

Cotton

• Denim Jeans and jackets

Denim

• Sweatshirts and sweatpants

Heavy knit cotton and polyester blend

• Joggers and boxers

Cotton polyester blend, Cotton

• Winter wear

Tweed, Wool

• Bags

Nylon, Polyester

• Shoes

Canvas, Suede, Mesh

We see that there are not that many different fabrics. Let’s see how to wash them

Cotton:

It is not a demanding fabric. Pure cotton does not stretch and retains its shape even in a machine wash.

Use warm water for light and pale colors and cold water for bright color in order to reduce dye transfer and fading.

Drying in direct sunlight can cause the color to fade or clothes to become dull and yellowish. 

Cotton and elastane:

These are used in stretchable clothing, these should either be washed by hand or at the low cycle in the machine because they tend to stretch and become long or distorted. Warm or cold water should be used.

These clothes easily lose its fit so, tumble dry should be on low settings.

Cotton and polyester:

Cotton fiber when combined with polyester, the outcome is a durable breathable fabric.

Tumble dry but remove the clothes when slightly damp in order to avoid wrinkling.

Linen:

 Bedding and shirts are usually made up of them. Fabric is light and comfortable to wear.

The cold water helps protect dye transfer and discoloration.

Linen easily gets wrinkled. To reduce wrinkling fabric conditioners should be used.

Do not wring it while and run it on low dry cycle.

Denim:

Denim tends to shrink over time with a wash dry cycle. Some denim may bleed, so, if it’s new denim wash it separately for the first time or wash it with similar color denim.

Use warm or cold water to wash it.

Tweed:

Tweed is a wool blend. It should be hand washed as machine wash can distort its loose weave structure. Do not wring it. These don’t usually bleed.

Wool:

Wools should be dry-cleaned. Washable wools should be washed with liquid detergent as they have a porous structure and tend to become stiff with normal detergents. After wash softeners can also be used.

Should wash in cold water.

Nylon:

Shirts and tees are sometimes made of nylon blend. These are more durable than pure cotton shirts. This can be washed in warm water.

It can be tumble dried.

Nylon blend with other fabrics make them less susceptible to shrinking.

Polyester:

Polyester is a synthetic fabric. Since it doesn’t shrink or stretch it can be washed in cold and warm water.

It takes very less time to dry and can be tumble dried .

Suede:

Suede is a type of leather. It loses its shine and bleeds upon washing. The best way to clean the suede is to use an eraser block and brush. If too dirty cornstarch and brush can be used. Suede conditioners can for shine.

Canvas:

Canvas is easy to wash. washed in hot water at a normal cycle. But if it bleeds dye then you may consider washing it with hands using a toothbrush and mild detergent and cold water.

With that being said, Dhobi G is a go-to help for anything related to laundry. You may browse many more similar tips at https://blog.dhobig.com/. Visit Dhobi G at www.dhobig.com. Make sure to check them out on Facebook as well at https://www.facebook.com/DhobiGOnline/.