I’ll tell you a secret: I really enjoy hand washing clothes, especially vintage clothes. It’s a good thing, because I have to do lots of laundry for Circa, and when you wash a garment it tells you it’s secrets – what it’s made of, how it’s made and how it wants to be treated. A lot of old garments are made from non-colourfast dyes so they need to washed separately (to avoid staining others) and in cold or lukewarm water.
Every week I wash lots of clothes but gloves and scarves get special treatment – I’ll save them up and every few months do a massive wash when the weather is just right. Yesterday was such a day, and as we go into Racing Season, the turn of the gloves. Unfortunately, I wasn’t careful enough with my colour treatment, and some dark green gloves ran and managed to spoilt a few others. Thankfully I had some “Run Away” on hand to save them.
The gloves aren’t as colourful as the scarves but they still make for an interesting pic: here be over 300 gloves of all different sizes, colours, fabrics and styles. Will be in store in the next few days, once we’ve matched them all up again and sorted them into categories.
That’s such a great photo! From a fellow vintage lover….
How delightful! And I know what you mean about washing vintage clothing. Somehow it makes laundry seem like a treat and imbues it with a romantic quality. I always make sure to use my best products, the gentle, fancy pegs and wear an appropriately vintage pinny for this job.
Super K: how wonderful! Have you thought about doing an appropriate housework post complete with lovely outfits?
I confess to wearing a pinny too, but it’s not a lovely vintage one, it’s a heavy duty PVC one because I always manage to soak myself during all the hand washing.
oh my! what a great photo. i’m after a pair of little gloves myself. i don’t know when i’ll get to your shop… i live in Sydney.
I actually love hand-washing my vintage things too – though definitely don’t miss the cold water in winter! I love this pic of all the gloves.