Clothes and accessories care tricks
Clothes and accessories care tricks
The skill of creating great stylings is a valueable and desirable thing because you can make the perfect image. Not less important is clothes care. Even the most beautiful suit jacket or shirt doesn't look well if it's creased. A real nightmare can be dirty shoes, discoloration of clothes and stains. Caring about the image doesn't have to be time-consuming. All you have to do is to know a couple of tricks allowing you to provide your clothes and accessories with freshness and durability.
Laundering – basic rules
The most important task to do is laundering. It's good to develop some beneficial habits. First of all, you should avoid laundering clothes of different colours together. It's best to sort them out. Remember also about checking the fabrics. Manufacturers often suggest laundering various fabrics in different temperatures. Before you choose the washing program, find out which fabric is the most delicate and adjust the temperature to it.
What else is crucial? Detergents. Besides the washing powder, don't forget to use washing capsules, a fabric softener of some kind. Pay attention to the number of clothes in the washing machine. Don't fill it up completely. If there's enough free space in the drum, the effects will be better and the clothes less creased. Laundering nets are also worth noticing. You can put underwear, shoelaces and socks into them.
If there are colourful clothes that can dye the others in the washing machine, you should throw a colour catcher between them. New clothes should also be washed separately, just in case. Colour catchers are to be used also in other situations. While laundering white things, throw in a whitening one – it will fix the areas that turned grey or yellow.
When laundering is not enough
Even the best washing machines can't handle serious stains. For that, there're some good old ways. Before putting the dirty clothes into the drum, make use of one of the tricks that will work.
Dry stains should be soaped up with hard soap, pre-washed, dried and only then thrown into the machine.
Blood may be removed only on one way – pre-wash the clothes with cold water.
A thing stained with red wine also can be saved. Don't rub it because the stain may get even deeper into the fabric structure. A solution is to spill a small amount of white wine on the area a couple of times.
Do you have a problem with greasy stains? We also have a solution to that! Putting some dish soap on it is usually enough. You can also throw some baby powder or crushed chalk on and leave it for a few hours.
What about deodorant stains? They are especially visible on dark clothes. Such a dirty fabric should be rubbed with a piece of denim. If it doesn't help, you will have to use surgical spirit or ethanol.
Next, we have the areas that turned yellow and sweat stains. They can be removed by using a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice. Another way to get out of this corner is to rub a combination of dish soap, hydrogen peroxide and soda into the stain (proportions – 1t of soap, 3t of hydrogen peroxide and 2t of soda).
When domestic ways fail, the only thing left is to use special detergents. The clothes that got died can be treated by a bleacher. You can also use special granules to remove stains – throw them into the drum. Another way to do it is to put the clothes into the water with dissolved granules before washing.
How to dry clothes faster?
Let us surprise you with some other interesting tricks. Here are ways to dry clothes faster. In order not to crease them, it's good to shake them before hanging. Make use of hangers to dry shirts and blazers – it will not only be faster, but they will keep the proper shape. Dry your clothes outside when it's hot and sunny. Do not place the drier directly on the sun, turn the clothes inside out. It will protect the colours.
While drying clothes inside, put the drier close to the heater. Another thing you can do is to put wet clothes and dry towels interchangeably to make them absorb moisture.
How to make a quick ironing?
By using helpful tricks you can shorten the time of ironing. The ground rule is to obey the steps concerning laundering. There should be some free space in the drum, the clothes should be put out of the drum immediately after the end, shaken out and dried. Iron the clothes when they are still a bit moist – it will help you with possible creases. Don't be afraid of using a mixture of vinegar or vodka.
First, mix 1/4 of glass of vinegar and 1 glass of water, add a few drops of lavender oil and pour the mixture into the bottle with a sprayer. Such a mist should be sprinkled all over the creased areas.
In order to make a vodka mixture, stir 1/3 of a glass of vodka and 2/3 of a glass of water, add a couple of drops of lemon oil. Sprinkle it on the creased areas.
Regardless of the material, the clothes should be always ironed on the left side to protect them against damage.
In case of ironing, there are some gadgets that can help you with the work. Small creased areas can be fixed by the means of a hair straightener. Small ironing boards with a sleeve panel are also a great help in ironing sleeves and collars.
Think about buying a special cover for the ironing board. It deflects heat which allows you to iron twice as fast, from the top and bottom. On the other hand, the cover can be easily replaced. All you have to do is to put an aluminum foil directly on the board, then a soft towel on it and then do the work.
Lightly-creased clothes can be steam-ironed. An evaporator is a great device but it's not the only way to make your ironing easier. Sometimes a good solution is to hang the clothes in the bathroom, near the shower or the bath. After taking a bath, the clothes are ready to wear.
Shoes – how to make them last long?
Every styling is usually juiced up by shoes. That's one of the reasons to care about them in a special way. The easiest in handling are shoes made from grain leather. All you have to do is to polish them regularly and you will enjoy walking in them for a long time. For sure, suede shoes are not that big of a deal. To make them look good, you need to have a special brush for suede and velour. The dirt can be also easily removed by rubbing the material with a file or an eraser. There are also other easy ways to clean elegant patent leather shoes. If they get matte scratches, you need to put vaseline on them and they will look as brand new. Make them shine by using a window cleaner. And when you have a problem with odour, put a couple of tea bags inside the shoes for a few nights.
Let's now focus on the recently popular kicks. The snow white colour gives them the X factor. That's why, to clean your favourite sneakers or plimsolls, soap may be not enough. Take a brush and a whitening toothpaste.