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Original poster

Help! mystery holes in tops/t-shirts

136 replies

arfur · 21/01/2010 13:58

Have noticed for a while small holes in my tops/t-shirts around the area of the belt buckle and assumed it was catching but have ruled that out. Have inspected areas around home that I could possibly be catching this area on like worktop in front of sink etc but can find nothing. Yesterday I wore brand new top for first time and have just taken it out of the washing machine to find about 10 small holes in the bottom centre of it!!! Definitely not the belt/jeans I wore with it yesterday. Could my washing machine in some scary way be targeting only this area of my clothes. Driving me insane and am v about new top! Any help/ideas please??? PS no one else in family's clothes affected?!?!

OP posts:
PinkPussyCat · 22/01/2010 22:53
Grin
Original poster
arfur · 23/01/2010 11:34

PP Should tabard be worn at all times ie in the car in case seatbelt theory is correct or just whilst stood at the sink do you think? Perhaps should just admit defeat and become my mum and just spend whole life in sheepskin slippers and a tabard she used to pick me up from school and brownies in her slippers, oh the shame.

Am very pleased am not alone in my problem altho it does feel a bit like a peculiar offshoot of AA ..... Hello my names Arfur and I get holes in the front of my tops. Welcome Arfur etc Do you think we will ever find out the cause? Who can I get to start a study/investigation into the problem?

OP posts:
juneybean · 23/01/2010 11:50

Haven't read the thread but could it be the tumble dryer?

MissAnneElk · 23/01/2010 11:53

It can't be either the washing machine or tumble dryer because the holes are always in the same place. I know manufacturers want us to believe that their machines are intelligent but they surely can't be that clever.

Original poster
arfur · 23/01/2010 12:01

Yes def not my TD as new top was holey straight out of the wm. I was suspicious of the wm wrt the earlier post about 1600 spin speed as thats the programme I always use but doesnt fit in with holes always being in same place and also only on my tops and not 3 other family members clothes. Tis a proper mystery .....

OP posts:
TheBossofMe · 23/01/2010 12:17

Don't have a TD, and the holes are too consistent in where they are to be WM, I suspect. The seatbelt theory is the most likely, one, I think. Or maybe the chemicals. Am rather excited at the thought of owning a tabard!

Original poster
arfur · 23/01/2010 12:23

Really Bossofme? Had a part time cleaning job when I was at school and I had to wear a blue checked nylon tabard for it so just the word tabard makes me shudder. Wasnt really a fashion item for a 15-17 year old or anyone else actually ... Have found some rather fetching aprons tho try googling domestic goddess aprons. Can just imagine the look on my postmans face if I answer the door wearing one tho!

OP posts:
Cobblers · 23/01/2010 12:31

Ah. I thought it was the way I held the supermarket shopping basket. That would explain why dh's clothes don't suffer from it.

SixtyFootDoll · 23/01/2010 12:46

I hae noticed this problem in DS's Tshirts and sewatshirts so cant be cleaning that is causing it.
I have it in one or two of my tshirts at belly buttin level.
Is a mystery!

TheBossofMe · 23/01/2010 15:39

arfur - OK, maybe not really regarding the tabard, but I have to get one of those aprons! I do get rather excited by household things like a nice pinny and over gloves. Makes me feel all Nigella when I'm baking muffins. Or, more likely, heating up some leftovers....

bunjies · 23/01/2010 15:44

I too get this and have had numerous tops ruined by small holes in the centre front near the bottom. As it only happened to my pure cotton tops I put it down to moths. So I bought myself some of those lavender gel things you put in your cupboards/drawers and lo it stopped. Don't know why it didn't happen to dh's stuff though.

nighbynight · 23/01/2010 16:02

Yup, that happens in our house too. But the hole fairy only seems to visit the ds's.

Is it my imagination, or do orange t shirts go into holes more easily than other colours?

DaftApeth · 23/01/2010 17:21

Would a netball tabard work?

What we need is to find if anyone gets the holes but never travels by car.

poorbuthappy · 23/01/2010 17:27

I thought it was a problem with Indesit washing machines??? Wasn't that decided on another thread??

Come on, lets just check while we're all here...

DaftApeth · 23/01/2010 17:43

Mine is a Hotpoint!

I think the holes made by washing machines are larger and can be anywhere on the garment.

The ones we are all getting are always on the front, by the belly button.

EssenceOfJack · 23/01/2010 17:59

Just to add fuel to the fire I have never had this happen to me. I rememerb being totally bemused at the other thread and mentioning it to a friend who does get it.So, I am slovenly type who doesn't use chemicals in the kitchen, but do a lot of cooking/washing up. Worktop formica with roundy edge.
always wear belts with jeans, probably in jeans 4 days out of 7 for at least some of the day.
Drive nearly every day.
No pets.

Am size 20 so it's not like being skinny and tummy not reaching worktops is the answer
The only marks I get are on my cleavage where I have dropped food and the norks have caught it

HTH!

AmazingBouncingFerret · 23/01/2010 18:04

have we figured out what it is yet?

aristocat · 23/01/2010 18:51

well, mine is a Hotpoint too.

do wear jeans but no belt - do drive though but rarely in just a t-shirt!

DaftApeth · 23/01/2010 19:28

''have we figured out what it is yet?''

Yes, but no-one believes me

Cobblers · 23/01/2010 20:42

Netball tabards are far too small.

Come on, there must be someone out there who can figure this out. I'm on tenterhooks.

I too thought it could be moths as we have regular infestations, but holes always in the same area rules that theory out.

Our washing machine's an old Miele.

It's a modern day mystery.

KirstyJC · 23/01/2010 20:52

I used to get these too - on all my new tops within a few wears! In my case it was definitely the seatbelt in the car that caused it, although I got through loads of tops before I worked that one out !

What was happening was the seatbelt has a round plastic button-type thingy on it, to stop the buckle moving up too far. When I drive, this plastic bit is just in the centre of my tummy, near the waistband.....and it spends the whole journey pressing on my tops!

I now have one of those cover thingies that you put over a seatbelt to make it move comfy, and put this over the middle bit where the plastic is. Since then, not a single hole has appeared.

So there you go - problem solved!

jellycat · 23/01/2010 21:27

I used to get this when ds1 was small. When I carried him, he used to like to get a foothold on my belt so he could bounce up and down, and I assumed it was the action of his feet rubbing the material of my tops against my belt buckle. Once he was too heavy for me to carry, the problem stopped. ds2 didn't have this habit of bouncing on my belt when carried, and it didn't happen when he was of an age to be carried.

Clearly this can't be the cause for other posters though!

TheBossofMe · 24/01/2010 11:54

Kirsty - that sounds very plausible! Will give it a go and report back. Do you wear a belt? It might be the case that its friction between the belt and the button on the seatbelt that is the root, which would also explain why Jellycat gets them (her ds1 being the cause of the friction in this case).

Either way, I've ruined a good few lovely tops

SparrowFflamau · 24/01/2010 12:06

It is caused by a small elf who lives in your belly button. They have very sharp pointy ears that make the teeny holes.

They are attracted to female hormones so prefer to live in women/teen girls, but you do get the ones who rough it on boys too.

mawbroon · 24/01/2010 12:35

Just to throw a spanner in the works of the seatbelt theory....

My DH gets these holes in his t shirts, I never get them in any of my clothes. He drives way more than I do, but the holes are often on the back of his shoulders, nowhere near where the seatbelt goes.

He does also end up with holes and rips just above the waist at the back, but I think that is from him tucking in his t shirt into his trousers (he never does anything gently!!)