Toss a few in - it won't kill the linen but you will need to change the water often and replace the tablets depending on the dinginess. I have tons of old linen and it works like a fiend. It's only mildly acidic. Denture tablets clean everything.
It all depends on what it is made of. If it's something you got down at Bed Bath and Beyond last year then you don't have to be quite as careful as if it is linen your Irish great great grandmother brought over 150 years ago.
So what exactly are you trying to whiten? what is it made of and was it white to begin with? Is it all white or are there other colors involved?
It says at the link up there, it's all kind of standard 40's cotton table linen, and all of was once white, now yellow/brown. It's all gone white again now, except for this one set of napkins, which seem like they've maybe already been boilwashed once or twice in an attempt to clean them, but all it's managed to do is set the grey in there for good.
Powdered soap for dishwashers dissolved in some water sometimes works on this. Soak overnight. Another combination that's popular and works is HOT WATER (enough to fill a big, clear plastic tub) , equal parts(about a cup of each) BIZ and the blue DAWN LIQUID DISH DETERGENT. Biz can be hard to find though.
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Date: 2009-06-15 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 05:20 pm (UTC)This is what I've read regarding antique linens, anyway.
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Date: 2009-06-15 06:34 pm (UTC)So what exactly are you trying to whiten? what is it made of and was it white to begin with? Is it all white or are there other colors involved?
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Date: 2009-06-15 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 09:02 pm (UTC)