Oh my giddy aunt, IT WORKS!

[Nohomemadecandles]

The sunlight bleaching out tomato pasta sauce stains thing!

Hung out some washing (thanks previous thread) about 7pm to dry overnight.

Noticed a white polo with orange stains. I was about to put it in the bin then I thought,

NO, HANG ON. LET'S SEE IF IT WORKS!

Just been out to retrieve my laundry and IT'S GONE! The stain, not the laundry

How could I have doubted you, MN?

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack

Moon bleaching linen use to be an actual thing. The sheets of newly woven fabric were laid out in fields and the moon bleached it silver instead of the sun bleaching it cream. It's hardly done now except by high end fashion and costs ££££.

So you can bleach clothes at night as well as by day...

Moon bleached linen left out on the grass all night?

Spider Orgies!

And you probably had to pay al lot extra for that!

It definitely works... wondering how the hell you all got your orange baby bibs clean without the Sun !?😀My green was like the Bleachfields

I don't know... but I've just had a terrifying flashback to the day I wrote to Heinz to complain that their orange coloured baby food jars stained baby clothing and that they should formulate it so it didn't, being that babies were messy.

Oh god, I was batshit when my first baby was little! 🙈

My stain didn’t budge after a good 5 hours in the sun. I think it’s actually the dreaded sun cream.

Perhaps I’ll wait for the full moon and try that.

Rofl. Bet you didn't insist on Dyson sending you an AirBlade without an engine in it though? that you've still got in your garage? no. you didn't did you?

"I don't know... but I've just had a terrifying flashback to the day I wrote to Heinz to complain that their orange coloured baby food jars stained baby clothing and that they should formulate it so it didn't, being that babies were messy.

Oh god, I was batshit when my first baby was little!"

@TwoYearsSince I think I need to hear this...

Their hand drier scared my little lad.... I did not let it lie....

@MissyB1

Can I add another tip? For bike oil/ grease stains, use a mix of bicarbonate of soda with washing up liquid to form a paste, slather on, work in a bit, and leave for 5 minutes then wash as normal. I had zero faith this would work but it did! Managed to save dh's favourite shorts after he had worn them to put his bike chain back on.

MissyB1 Thank you!!! It worked! Fixed my lovely top with the big greasy stain on it. I had been looking for some esoteric chemical, but this worked perfectly! If only I hadn't washed it with dog biscuits in the pocket, it would be as new!

Wondrous.

I add a scoop of vanish oxi or the like into the drawer with some liquid and a great squirt of white vinegar to my white wash and it really seems to be excellent for stains and brightening.

@ahagwearsapointybonnet

It's great for lily pollen, which is a pig to get out of clothes otherwise!

I missed this comment when I read this thread last week - and if I had read it I would have assumed it was for white or light coloured clothing only BUT ... today I washed my navy t-shirt which had orange lily pollen on the front and was disappointed that the stains had not come out with stain remover. It wasn't even very sunny, but I pegged it out anyway and there is no NO sign of the stain. Miraculous - and something my mother never told me. Thanks MN.

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack

Moon bleaching linen use to be an actual thing. The sheets of newly woven fabric were laid out in fields and the moon bleached it silver instead of the sun bleaching it cream. It's hardly done now except by high end fashion and costs ££££.

So you can bleach clothes at night as well as by day...

I'm sure I read about this in The Country Child (Allison Uttley). I just thought it was an old wives tale - does it have to be a full moon I wonder?

I don't think so, one full moon a month wouldn't be enough I'd imagine...

There were talks on the past present and future of the linen industry for the NI science festival and the presenter talks about it a bit on this first video I think in case you're interested

Thanks Flavia - I watched it but I must have missed the moonlight part, but even so it was interesting.

Coincidentally I have recently been replacing all my ratty old tea towels with Ulster Weavers ones - far superior (bigger and most of them have a handy hanging tape) and realised that some are cotton and some are linen. I don't think I have ever had a linen tea towel before!

Moonlight works, if the sun hasn't quite got all the stains out, I leave whatever it is on the line overnight. Most times the stain has gone by morning.

Oh I thought it was in that bit, sorry! There's 3 episodes so maybe it's in one of the others, I'm pretty sure I heard of it from there and not from a book or something...

I have linen tea towels from the 70's or 80's my DGM gave me, they seem pretty much indestructible!

Urine used to be used for bleaching too remember. Had to let it sit for a while and then use it.

My late MIL always commented on how white my whites were and I think it's because I dry outside whenever I can.

I use napkins and love drying them outside. Always gets the tomato sauce stains off.

Am going to try the vinegar trick on pit stains and see if I can rescue a few T-shirts/shirts.

I just thought it was an old wives tale - does it have to be a full moon I wonder?

Moonlight is just reflected sunlight.

I love the sun bleaching thing though. Effort free too apart from the original wash.

@SoupDragon

I just thought it was an old wives tale - does it have to be a full moon I wonder?

Moonlight is just reflected sunlight.

That hadn't occurred to me.

It was embarrassingly late in life that it occurred to me too 😂