The Miracle of Vinegar

This is a guest post from my very clever friend, Annie Kip, who is the master-mind behind the blog Plenty Perfect.

Hello Go Gingham readers! The most important thing to know is that vinegar is a miracle liquid. It does it all. I didn’t believe it at first. When I was told to wash brand new jeans in vinegar, I balked! – of course! That is weird, right? Who wants stinky jeans?

It may seem strange, but the truth is that a good overnight soak in a solution of water and a cup or so of vinegar will help set the dye in your favorite dark jeans. Every time I have taken the time to do this, I have been very glad later. (This is really hard when you are super excited to wear your new jeans!) After your overnight soak, a gentle cycle wash with a little detergent takes the vinegar smell away and you are all “set,” so to speak.

Going forward, it is also a good idea to turn your jeans inside out when you wash them and to consider drying on a line (instead of a dryer). These tricks help keep the little fibers that hold the dye in the jean fabric from escaping. Runaway fibers are what makes jeans fade, so hold onto them if you can.

For yet another way to use vinegar, check out this blast from the past…

I am not willing to test this for all my blog readers, sorry, but I have been told by a reliable source that Massengill douching powder and vinegar are a good thing to have on hand in case you – or your dog – get sprayed by a skunk, if you can find it (I could not). I really don’t think you should try douching your dog. It might be more effective to wash the dog down externally with the solution. Apparently, Massengill is formulated to neutralize really, really stinky odors. Yikes. What were people doing with their hoo-ha’s in the 80’s to make them so stinky???

I happen to think that it is truly amazing that vinegar can do so much. You can eat it – OR – clean floors with it – AND – it is stinky but it can be used to get rid of really stubborn, stinky smells. Weird. If plain old vinegar can do all of this – it seems plenty perfect to me.

Can you think of any other amazing uses for vinegar?

 Go Gingham related links:

Clean your wool blankets with a splash of white vinegar!
How to make skinny jeans from wide leg jeans – make your own “jeggings”
How to mend pillow cases to improve your sleeping – hah!
Easy steps to remove pesky tags from clothing
Want to learn to sew? Start here with easy cloth napkins
How to take apart a skirt – use your seam ripper on this project!
Mitered cloth napkins made from an old skirt
Sew your own homemade lunch sack
How to sew a Harry Potter cape complete with wand pocket