cleaning ties

[Section10]

Greetings from a new member! I would like to suggest a little tip regarding the cleaning of stubborn rust-like spots and stains from non-silk ties. Earlier in the fall I acquired a bag full of old misc. ties that hadn't been cleaned since the Kaiser was a pup. On the worst stains I tried a 50/50 mix of cream of tartar and table salt. I dampened the stain slightly and rubbed the mix in with a soft bristled brush. They didn't look any better, but without rinsing any of it off, I hung the ties out on the clothesline and left them there for about a week. It rained a couple times and the sun shone and after a few days I could tell the spots were fading. when I finally took them inside and rinsed the residue off the spots were entirely gone. I've been very pleased with how this has worked and thought I'd pass it along. (It happens I live in a rural area which is comparatively pollution-free. I don't know how it would work in a smog-filled environment.) (It may work on silk as well, but I've never tried it.)

 

[Solid Citizen]

Woolite Man

Hello Section10 welcome to the group, interesting suggestion. Since the major fabric used in making the 1940's era swing ties was rayon, I've found a small amount of woolite on a damp clean washcloth has worked for me numerous times. Peter :beer:

 

[Braxton36]

Silk tie cleaning

And for those of you wondering about silk ties - this isn't 100% effective (depending on the origin of the stain) but baby powder with cornstarch sprinkled heavily on the stain and left to stand for several hours often works.

I've found that drycleaning silk ties signals the end of their life. Water-based stains can often be eliminated by re-wetting the entire tie.

How did I learn this stuff? I have no idea.

 

[The Wingnut]

I'm not sure what Haband ties of the '40s were made from or what printing processes were used on the fabric, but I recently spilled coffee on one of my favorites(I have 3 Habands, 2 of which are the cream of the crop save one '30s green brocade). It was already stained with something else (possibly coffee, the stains looked similar), so I decided to try Oxy-Clean on it.

I filled a tub with a gallon of scalding hot water and mixed in two scoops of Oxy-Clean. I let it sit for about 5 minutes and color tested the tie. When it didn't run, I soaked the whole tie and let it sit for a few hours. I pulled the tie out, rinsed it thoroughly with cold water, and let it drip dry on the shower rod for the weekend while I was out. I came back and took the iron to it, not actually touching the fabric, but just setting the iron on high heat and steam and holding it about 1/8" away.

It WORKED. The tie came out looking brand new without a trace of staining, no color bleed and nicely pressed. I'm very happy.

I can't suggest this for all ties, of course. Some fabrics, especially silk, won't hold color well, and many dyes of the era won't hold, either. I might have got lucky on that one.

 

[Kakkoii Mono]

I left this message under another thread: Tie Crafters in NYC does everything with ties, affordably.

And a cautionary note about vintage rayon - it hasn't the same fibre content as contemporary rayon. In addition to the wood pulp, there was a sizing/stiffening agent added in vintage rayon. This helped it to be cut and styled, and to hold its shape. If you wash that, or wet it, you lose that and that's one of the reasons vintage rayon shrinks about 3 sizes and becomes soft and mushy and doesn't resemble what it used to be before you chased after it with water. Take care when immersing or wetting vintage rayon.