how to care for curtains

skippercollecto · August 3rd, 2003, 02:27 PM

Today at an antique show I purchased Battlestar Galactica curtains, and would like to know how to care for them. They're not handmade (I can tell by the stitching), but there is no tag on them. They are four panels of heavy woven cotton. They've got the aqua blue background with drawings of Adama, Apollo, Athena, Starbuck, Tigh, Boxey and Muffit.
However, they seem a bit dingy and they are spotted in places, and there's a bit of a musty smell to them. How should I clean them? Can I put them in the washer and wash them in warm or cold water, and then put them in the dryer? Hand-washing them would be a pain because they'd come out wrinkled and I'd never be able to iron all the wrinkles out. Or should I take them to the dry-cleaner?
If any of you own these, how do you care for them? Or maybe you should ask your moms about them. Did any of you have these in your room when you were a child, and how did your mother care for them when she decided your room needed a major cleaning?

Mary

Julie, by the way, I purchased these at the Tri-State Antique Market, which is always the first Sunday of the month at the Dearborn County Fairgrounds in Lawrenceburg, Ind. (across from the entrance to Argosy). I have found more Galactica stuff at this antique show than I ever have anywhere else. It's also the best place to buy Barbie stuff outside of the doll shows.
In case any of you want to go next month, just send me a private message or an email, and I'll give you directions.

shiningstar · August 3rd, 2003, 03:48 PM

Mary go to Your local quilt store and purchase ORVIS SOAP
and HAND WASH those Curtains. Since those were made
quite awhile ago .......there could be damage to the fabric itself.

You can also use woollite as well and handwash the curtains with that and LINE dry those curtains.

If the stains are still there Then you can use a stain remover and then again wash your curtains by hand.

As the material is Old I would not suggest dry cleaning or
machine washing.

If nothing else Mary you should be able to get the curtains dry enough to use.

Flamingo Girl · August 3rd, 2003, 07:06 PM

Try Oxyclean on the stains, it does a great job and doesn't damage the fabric or cause the colours to run.

shiningstar · August 3rd, 2003, 07:10 PM

WOw Now why didn't I think of OXYCLEAN! Excellent
IDEA FLamingo girl!

Flamingo Girl · August 4th, 2003, 09:19 AM

I love Oxyclean.

shiningstar · August 4th, 2003, 10:35 AM

I do too which is why I don't understand
how it is that I didn't THINK of that LOL

skippercollecto · August 18th, 2003, 04:21 AM

Well, I washed the curtains in the kitchen sink using Woolite. I did each of the four panels individually and then hung them up in the basement to dry. When they were almost dry they were moved to the covered porch to finish drying and to make sure they didn't have any musty odor.
They turned out very nice and not wrinkled at all! So I'm assuming the manufacturer must have used some anti-wrinkle chemical in the fabric.
I took a photo of one of the panels, which I will send to David Moss's Battlestar memorabilia page.

Mary

The Blue Mule · August 18th, 2003, 05:50 AM

BugsBunny(aka Rocky) : "It's curtains yer unnastan Cutains!!"

Thug:"Oh please dont do it Rocky,Don't do it."

Bugs Bunny:Curtains!! Here!

Bugs pulls out a cutain rod with a floral pattern curtains and places them on the thugs head.

Thug: "Oh, Their adorable!

Laters!

Rich

shiningstar · August 18th, 2003, 08:02 PM

That's great SkipperCollecto! I'm glad the curtains are OK!

Senmut · September 3rd, 2003, 03:14 AM

Sounds like a shady deal to me.

Siriusly, try soaking them in tylium?