What Can you Hand Wash?
What am I hand washing and why?
Red Silk Vest
With my sleeveless salmon pink dress I wore a short sleeved red silk vest. The vest should prevent me getting perspiration on my dress and having to wash the dress immediately. I have worn the dress for less than half a day.
Hand And Body Wash
As I work from home, I can wash out the silk vest, taking up less space to dry it in the bathroom than the whole dress. Being at home, I can have an all-over body wash every two or four hours, to save getting clothes smelly.
My drawers and cupboards contain only washed clothes. Nothing, no dandruff or skin, nor perspiration, to attract moths and insects.
Clothes which can get another half day of wear are hung up in the bathroom from the drying rack. I shake clothes out over the bath
Maybe. I think, I'll only wash partly, just under the arms and around the neck, the cuffs and collar of a blouse, maybe the placket under the buttons.
Sometimes I don't want to wash the whole garment. I half wash a garment, then end up washing it entirely. That's good.
In humid Singapore you had to shower in the middle of the day. In fact you felt sticky after half an hour.
In London, despite lots of body washing, I still check every garment for staining and smells each night. I wear cleanly washed clothes if I am going out to meet people.
Even if I am only out for four hours, it is a good idea to wash some garments when I get home, rather than wearing them twice. Surprising how often you find a coffee stain on the front or cuffs, a biro mark, something which would benefit from being washed away as fast as possible.
Knee High Shower By Toilet
In my hall cloakroom I have a shower head attached to the wall at knee height next to the toilet. This is similar to what you find in public toilet cubicles in Singapore and Malaysia, which is where I got the idea.
The shower head was fixed to the wall on the bracket which comes with it. The inlet end was attached to a water pipe quite quickly.
In Singapore and Malaysia your bathroom or toilet cubicle would have a water outlet in the floor, with the floor sloping towards the outlet, very slightly, almost invisbly.
In London, England, I had a carpet on the floor underneath, so I needed a neat pot to catch drips from the shower head. A waterproof container of any sort, including an elegant vase, or toilet brush holder, would do the trick. Ideally colour co-ordinated with your toilet and basin, which in most cases means white.
Drying Clothes Indoors
In the old days everybody hung clothes outside. In England you used a long line in the garden. You had to dash out to rescue clothes when it rained.
In hot countries you hang clothes to dry out of the back window on poles. In Singapore clothes are hung on poles over the back balcony. You can see them if you walk through housing estates.
Prevent Mould
To prevent mould, do not hand wet clothes in an enclosed room with door and window shut. Do not dry clothes nor shoes over a radiator with the window shut.
Protecting Baths and Showers From Stains
My red vest is likely to drip red colour in the white bath. So I often place a red plastic bowl underneath.
Embroidering flowers
Sometimes when you rub a stain too hard, you create a hole. Several videos on You tube, and pop up reels on Facebook, show how you can embroider stars and flower petals to hide a hole. I dream that one day I will have the patience, confidence, and time to do this. Meanwhile, sewing on a button or patch is a quick fix.
Buttons and Patches
If a stain won't come out, I have several options.
1 Sew on a button
I had two stains on the cuff of a black knitted fabric jacket. It looked as if bleach or washing up liquid had reoved the black dye. I sewed a black button over the larger stain. I asked my husband whether I needed to sew a second button over the smaller stain. I put on the jacket. He said that when I was wearing it you did not notice the second stain which was under my wrist on my constantly moving arm.
2 Sew on a patch.
3 Fill the hole with a piece of matching fabric from a hem or pocket or unseen part of the lining.
4 Cut a slit and fill with a satin ribbon.
5 Cut out the stained part and used the rest of the garment for patches on garments of similar colours.
Hiding A Horrible Hole
In theory you can use a thread as a drawstring around a round hole. If you have a ladder in a knitted garment, you might be able to create a false dart. You might need to create a fake matching remedy the other side to balance the visual effect.
With the fashion for off the shoulder tops and dresses, and long slits on skirts, you might be albe to create a long slit, or cut off a hole or stain. Or create a cutout effect. Two or three of four diamond shaped holes in a V shape or diagonal line.
My greatest success was using a patch to hide a hole in the knee of a black Weekender skirt. That skirt was my favourite skirt. It went with umpteen blouses and tops, white, coloured, or black and multicoloured. I wore my skirt constantly. Then I got the horrible hole.
I looked for a patch. Nothing was large enough. Except a black and gold watch. Totally unsuitable. But I could not go out with a hole. I sewed on the patch.
A Successful Patch
The patch was a huge success. I remember at the Writers Summer School in Swanwick, about three or .four people every day told me, 'you've dropped your watch'. I was astonished that anybody could think that a patch was a real watch. I suppose that at knee level it was just far enough away to be convincing.
At first I tried pretending it was just decorative. Then I admitted that the patch was hiding a hole. Either way, the patch was admired. As was my ingenuity!
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My other blogs on blogspot include: travelwithangelalansbury, poems with hazel nutter
I have books and ebooks on amazon.co.uk amazon.com and lulu.com
I have also contributed chapters on writing, hoarding, and other subjects to Carolyn Street's anthologies. I am very busy on Toastmasters International speakers' clubs, and at wine events where I like to dress smartly.
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