Engleside Products Restoration Hypoallergenic Powder to Clean Antique and Delicate Linens Safely 32 Ounce Tub- One

A friend of mine approached me with a dilemma. Her baby's christening is upcoming and they'd unpacked the christening gown that had been worn by the previous 4 or 5 generations of her family. The gown was lovely with ornate embroidery and tucks all over. It was made of a very lightweight cotton that had yellowed badly with age and improper storage. While it was in good condition considering its age, the areas around the embroidery work were very fragile and prone to tearing. They considered using it as-is (yellowed and stained) to prevent further damage, but the gown also had a musty smell to it. The fragility of areas of the gown prevented any type of "agitation" in washing it, so the gentle cycle in the washing machine was out of the question. This is where I came into the picture. I did some googling to try to determine the best option. I eliminated OxiClean from my choices because it contains optical brighteners which can be harmful to fragile or brittle fabric fibers. Then I found Restoration powder. The cleaning of the christening gown with this powder was a two-step process but quite simple. The first step was three scoops of powder per gallon of warm/hot water. After dissolving the powder, I carefully placed the gown into a tub of the water mixture to soak for 15-20 minutes. I then gently eased the gown from the water onto towels to press excess water out. Then, step 2 was simply a repeat of mixing the same amount of powder with fresh warm/hot water again. (I used a small Rubbermaid tub for the gown; but you could use your bathtub for larger items such as a tablecloth.) This time, the gown soaked for nearly 8 hours and then I gently rinsed it. Again, I carefully lifted the gown from the water to prevent tearing and placed it between towels to absorb the water. The results? AMAZING! It no longer even looked like the same christening gown. The yellowing and darker brown stains were gone leaving a lovely white gown with a nice fresh scent.

I used this on my family's 30 year old bouquet and I was not disappointed. Bad storage had turned what was originally a snow white bouquet with white crochet and tulle into a disaster. The crochet was old parchment paper yellow and the white flowers looked smoke damaged. I was extremely nervous about using this as the bouquet has become a family tradition and has a lot of sentimental value to all of the women in my family. The presoak, where I only submerged the heavily yellowed crochet, was very encouraging as the change started within 10 minutes. The instructions say 6-8 hours for the main soak, but my anxiety had me checking it every 20-30 minutes. About 3 hours of the second soak is all it took to make the yellowed silk flowers, lace, silk ribbon and crochet very white. I'd seen some reviews saying it would get whiter once it dried and they were not wrong. I'm glad we're adding other colors, because the bouquet is now almost blinding! I've done an extensive check for damage. A couple of paper covered wires are now exposed and I have noticed that some of the plastic is a bit flimsier than it was previously, but the product was never meant for plastic or paper so that was to be expected. The tulle was extremely delicate and easy to tear when I started, but it didn't seem to be any worse after the fact. For anyone else thinking of using this stuff for items that incorporate plastic, such as in this case of silk flowers, I recommend you keep an eye on it. 6-8 hours likely would have destroyed them, but they seem to require significantly less time than crochet, silk, and lace to achieve full effect and you should be able to see when they're ready to be pulled and rinsed. I have exactly one complaint about this product. I would have liked a better warning to use it in an area with very good air flow. I don't think it uses anything truly dangerous in normal amounts, but it does let off fumes during mixing and they will absolutely choke you if you stand too close. I wound up running through my house with held breath and a giant glass bowl full of water to get to my front porch and breathe. I will say that even with that experience, I would 150% buy and use this product again. Fantastic results and I'm looking so forward to being able to continue the tradition with the family bouquet at my wedding.

While cleaning out a closet, my sister came across the hand-smocked christening gown that had been made for her 40-year old son's christening. Unfortunately, it had not been properly prepared before putting it away, and the stains on the front were now dark brown stains and the once white gown was an ugly shade of beige. She brought it to me in tears and asked if I knew anything that would clean it. I told her that I had purchased the Restoration Powder to clean antique and delicate linens, but had not used it yet. She asked me to try it on the little cotton gown. I got a bucket and mixed up the powder according to the directions and dropped the gown in. I left it to soak for a day. I was amazed to find that the stains had lightened after only one treatment. I mixed up another batch and soaked it again - did this every day for 5 days. When I removed the gown on the last day, the stains were gone, and the gown was white. I then washed the gown, rinsed it, and hung it on a plastic hanger outside to dry. No more stains - you can't even tell they were ever there. And the fabric looked as good as the day my nephew wore the christening gown. Yes, it took several soakings over 5 days, but we the end result was well worth the time and effort. Since that time I have used this product to clean other heirloom garments made of cotton and linen with excellent results. Recently I was able to get a mustard stain out of an Irish linen tablecloth and an old ketchup stain out of a white linen blouse using Restoration Powder. I recently ordered another container of this product because it is a must in my laundry room.