Question
I would like to know the best way to clean old yellowing hand crocheted table linens. Some are white, some are off-white, and one is linen with a floral embroidery pattern that was hand-stitched.
I would also like to know who carries Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach in powder form.
Answer
Old and crocheted linens should be dealt with carefully. I would start with a gentler approach, and work my way up to stronger options. You might consider doing them separately given the variety that you discussed, especially the colored hand stitching.
First, start with a presoak with an oxygen bleach because it will be more gentle than regular bleach. If you aren’t familiar with color safe bleaches, learn more about how to use color safe bleach here, including presoaking. To use powdered Clorox 2® For Colors to presoak, add 1 scoop to 2 gallons hot water, stirring to make sure it dissolves. Submerge the linens, making sure they are all the way into the soaking solution, and let them soak for 1 -8 hours, or overnight.
After the soak time is complete, thoroughly rinse the items (or just machine wash them on the delicate cycle in lingerie bags if you are using a top loading washer with a central agitator) and then lay them flat on a clean towel to air dry.
If this approach is not enough, you probably will need to kick your approach up a notch and consider using ¼ cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach added to 1 gallon of water. Let the items soak for up to 5 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and lay flat to dry.
To answer your second question, we do have two dry bleach products, Clorox® Concentrated Bleach Powder and Clorox® Zero SplashTM Bleach Packs and they are discussed in more detail in The Difference Between Chlorine and non-Chlorine Bleach.
Finally, I want to mention that you can test items with color before bleaching to make sure they are safe for bleach before you try bleaching them.
