Fabric Care Techniques for Perfect Laundry

There are different techniques that you can use to care for certain types of fabrics. Apart from ordinary washing, certain techniques can be applied to come up with a perfect laundry.

Different Fabric Care Techniques

1. Washing

Depending on the type of fabric, there are two options for you when it comes to washing your laundry at home: machine washing and hand washing. In washing, whether hand washing or machine washing, you will need laundry detergents. Several types of laundry detergent include:

• Powders – Powders are ideal for machine washing although there are also hand-washing detergents that are in powder form. They work best when dissolved in hot or warm water. There are numerous brands of powdered detergents sold in the market today. Most of them consist of brighteners, enzymes, and fragrances.
• Cakes – Cakes is the old-fashioned bar soap that are commonly used for hand washing. They may contain brighteners, fragrances, surfactants, detergent boosters, and artificial colors depending on the brand.
• No Dyes and No Perfumes – Certain types of laundry detergents are designed for people who are allergic or sensitive to dyes, perfumes, and other enzymes which are present in many laundry detergents. That is why there are specially formulated detergents that eliminate all these additives.
• High Efficiency detergents – These are detergent suited for front-loading and high efficiency (HE) washers and can also be used for standard washers. They can provide optimal cleaning effect even with low water volume.

2. Bleaching

Bleaching is the process of whitening white fabrics. But before you bleach your garment, read first the manufacturer’s instruction on the label. Bleaches can be chlorine based and non-chlorine based.

Additionally, if you don’t like to use commercial bleaching products, you can still brighten your white fabrics using materials that are readily available at home. Simply mix half a cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water and apply the mixture during the wash cycle. And for added effects, dry your laundry under the sun.

3. Removing Stains

There are different types of stain removers for different types of stains. But generally, baking soda paste (1/4 cup water + 4 tbsp. of baking soda) makes a good all-purpose stain remover.

Make sure that stains in the fabrics are already removed before putting your laundry in the dryer as heat tends to set or laminate the stain in the fabric.

4. Fabric Conditioning

There are several benefits to adding fabric conditioner or softener to your laundry in the final rinse cycle. Fabric softener can give your laundry a nice smell, a softer feel, and can reduce wrinkles. Fabric conditioners can be used in both machine-washed and hand-washed garments.

Although there are many brands of fabric conditioner you can buy now, it is always good to use homemade fabric conditioners as they are more economical and environment friendly. Vinegar makes a good fabric conditioner. Just add half a cup of vinegar in the final rinse and it can give you the effect commercial fabric conditioner has on laundry except for the smell. Although vinegar will not leave your laundry smelling like vinegar, it will also not give your laundry that nice smell commercial fabric conditioners give.

5. Starching

Starching is commonly applied to polyester and cotton fabrics to give them a crisp appearance. It can also help prevent wrinkling. You can apply starch in the final rinse cycle or you may also use spray starch which is applied during pressing.

As a rule of the thumb, it is best to first read the manufacturer’s instruction on the label to know if there are any restrictions to the fabric care technique you can use for some garments such that bleaching may not be ideal. Knowing all these techniques can help you properly care for your laundry.