AY Honors/Laundering/Answer Key
Laundering
1. Why is important to read the labels in garments before laundering them?
The labels often include the manufacturer's recommended washing instructions as well as the types of material the garment is made from. Instructions often include:
- Wash tempertature
- Rinse temperature
- Ironing temperature, and sometimes ironing method (such as "on the reverse side," or "through a cloth").
- If the article is only suited for dry cleaning
- Drying method (tumble dry, drip dry, lay flat, etc)
2. What is the proper way to prepare clothes for washing?
Remove all items from all pockets, zip up any zippers, fasten snaps and cover velcro. Also tie any strings back so they won't get tangled in the agitator or with other garments. Remove any pins, your name tag, and the "scribe" or "captain" tag from your Pathfinder uniform before washing it. Brush off any caked-on dirt. Turn permanent press and garments with silkscreened patterns (such as your field unifor) inside-out. This will help the permanent press items from gathering lint, and it will protect the silkscreening from wear.
Place small items (such as a toddler's socks) and hosiery in a mesh bag before putting them in the washing machine. This will prevent small items from being flushed out with the rinse water, and it will help prevent runs in hosiery.
Seperate your laundry into like items:
- Whites from colors
- Color-fast from colors that may run
- Durables from delicates
- Very dirty from lightly soiled
- Lint givers (towels, sheets, flannels) from lint takers (corduroy, permanent press)
Wash these types seperately, because each of the types of loads listed above need different settings on the washing machine. Finally, pretreat any stains with a stain remover.
3. What types of clothes should be washed in hot, warm, and cold?
| HOT | WARM | COLD |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent Press | Permanent Press | Bright Colors |
| Whites | Whites | Dark Colors |
| Very dirty clothing | Delicates | Delicates/Knits |
4. What precaution should be used when using chlorine bleach? What are the advantages of powdered oxygen bleach? Why should chlorine bleach and ammonia never be mixed?
Precautions: Bleach is a powerful chemical. It can burn your skin, and it can dissolve cloth. Do not get it on your skin; if you get it on your skin, wash it off right away. If you spill it on your clothing, rinse immediately. If too much bleach is used on cloth, the cloth will disintegrate. Bleach will remove dye, so it must not be used on anything other than white cloth.
Powedered Oxygen Bleach: The greatest advatage offered by powdered oxygen bleach is that it removes stains without the use of toxic chemicals. For some stains, it works even better than chlorine bleach. It brightens fabrics and can be used on upholstery and carpet. It is non-toxic to humans and animals, and it breaks down into environmentally friendly components when the oxygen is released (the release of oxygen is what removes stains).
Mixing Bleach and Ammonia: Bleach an ammonia should NEVER be mixed because doing so causes a chemical reaction that releases poisonous gasses. The primary gas released is chlorine gas which was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I. Chlorine gas is highly toxic. Other gasses that can be released include nitrogen trichloride (which can explode in your face), and hydrazine (a component of rocket fuel).
5. What precautions should be taken when using liquid fabric softeners?
Liquid fabric softeners leave an invisible residue on the garments which prevents static cling, softens the fabric, and imparts a light fragrance. It should only be used in the rinse cycle when no soap is present in the water, because it will react with soap and leaving a sticky, visible residue which resembles lint. If your washing machine has a fabric softener dispenser use it and the fabric softener will be added at the right time in the cycle. Otherwise, you must add it yourself at the beginning of the rinse cycle. Be careful to not pour it directly on clothing, but rather into the water.
6. Know how to remove the following stains:
- Blood: If the blood is fresh, wipe it up with a sponge soaked in cool, salted water. Then rinse with clear water. If the blood is dried, use diluted hydrogen peroxide (one part peroxide, nine parts water).
- Chewing gum: Scrape off as much as possible first. This is easier if you cool the gum down with ice cubes first, as that makes the gum brittle rather than gummy. If the item is washable, apply a little kerosene or dry cleaning fluid and rinse it off. You may have to repeat this several times.
- Crayons: Place the stained item in the freezer and leave it there until the crayon freezes. You can then literally break the crayon stain out of the garment. If there is any residue left after this, place the item on a paper towel or a blotter. Then place a second paper towel (or blotter) on top of the item. Appy a warm iron. This will melt the crayon, and the paper towels should soak up the stain. Change the paper towels as often as is necessary.
- Grass: If the garment is white, you may soak it in a solution of chlorinated bleach, then rinse and launder. Otherwise, apply methylate alcohol (wood alcohol) to the stain, rinse in warm water, and then wash.
- Grease: Scrape away as much of the grease as you can. Rub vaseline into the stain, and then wash with a laundry powder or liquid detergent. You can also try a spot removing product.
- Fruit: Try to remove the stain before it dries by rinsing it in cold water. Otherwise, soak white garments in a chlorinated bleach solution. For colored garments, treat with sodium percarbonate or a warm borax solution.
- Ink:
- Rust:
- Grape fruit:
6. Why must stains be removed before laundering?
Putting a stained garment in a dryer will set the stain, making it even more difficult to remove. Always remove stains before laundering.
7. How are woolen and wool like garments laundered?
8. Why is it important to remove garments from a dryer immediately when the cycle is complete?
When a garment is still hot from the dryer, hanging it immediately will prevent it from getting wrinkled. If you forget to remove the garments from the dryer and wrinkles set, try throwing a damp washcloth into the dryer with the clothing and run the dryer for a few minutes. This may reduce the wrinkling.
