[black shirt graphic by Octaneshop.com | badly-lit iphone photo by me, of course]
Why wait? Brine it!
[Also known as: I had a great post here, lost it after publishing it, and am currently sulking bc I'm mad that I have to do it over again.]While looking up how to make clothes softer, quickly – I came across this post over at Octane. Astoundingly enough, I convinced myself that waiting three whole days wasn’t going to kill me, and I decided to test this method out by throwing in two garments:
1. Starchy thrift shop cardigan that I want to make smaller, but couldn’t get past how stiff it felt on.
2. Linen shirt that I planned to dye and refashion.
The linen shirt was more curiosity experiment than anything else, but that’s how most of my DIYS start off anyway [take the beige Chanel-inspired dry clean only jacket that I plan on dyeing black soon, for example].
After waiting three whole days (!) I have this to report:
1. Cotton cardigan is FAR softer than before, she and I will get acquainted after I take the shoulder & sides in a bit.
2. Linen shirt was not ruined – in fact, it did soften up some – which makes me happy (and almost makes me want to put it through three more salt washes to see if the fabric lets up a little more).
On the next batch…
- I’m going to throw the shirts in the gentle wash cycle with fabric softener, in place of detergent. I figure it can’t hurt, right? (or wrong, we’ll see how it pans out?)
ADDENDUM:
Here’s another method of vintage-ing your wardrobe, via outsapop.com
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I have a cotton duvet cover from IKEA that I love except that it is so stiff. I’m excited to try brining. I think I’ll start with a pillowcase first. Thanks for this idea!
Starting small is definitely ideal – last night I tried another method I read about online: boiling the pieces in a salt + baking soda solution.
I think what will work best would be boiling, then leaving them to brine for three days. The boiling broke down that starchy new “film”, and I could tell with a few extra washes, it would be far softer – but I couldn’t justify doing repetitive loads solely for the sake of my experiment! :)
I’m going to try this on some cotton muslin/gauze I bought to make swaddle blankets. The only fabric I can find is not up to my “newborn baby softness” standards. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I’m so curious as to how it’ll turn out! I’d definitely boil at the start, it tends to break down the stiffness a little quicker.
Well, it softened up a tiny bit, but not tot he point I would like. Probably not more that it would with fabric softener. I didn’t boil it though. I think I will try that and then brine it again. I’ll keep you posted.
What has so far worked best for me has been boiling in water/ washing soda then leaving in that solution and adding salt to soak for a bit.