How do you keep blue jeans from fading?

I had a fellow teacher ask me today how to keep blue jeans from fading. I
know the salt and vinegar trick worked on the older dies, but that is not
the case recently. I believe that someone mentioned something earlier but I
guess I corrected too many papers recently and can't remember.
thanks for the help
Audrey

On Fri, 5 May 2006 18:00:17 -0500, "Audrey" wrote:


I had a fellow teacher ask me today how to keep blue jeans from fading. I
know the salt and vinegar trick worked on the older dies, but that is not
the case recently. I believe that someone mentioned something earlier but I
guess I corrected too many papers recently and can't remember.
thanks for the help

I throw a bit of bluing in with the rinse.
Just a bit more than you would use for whites in a load of the same
size.
Dilute it and pour it down the bleach cup, or put it in with the
softener, or just fling it into the incoming water as the tub fills.

If I have some that are determined to fade no matter what, I redye
them. I actually redyed a new pair black the other day because they
were the style the kid wanted, but they only came in that nasty
looking dye job where it looks like you wet yourself.

Barbara
--
The wolf that understands fire has much to eat.

I don't even understand the question. I thought the big bucks were spent
for jeans that looked like they'd been abandoned at the Crusades. In my
rare shopping trips, the only jeans I see are really and truly awful. Polly

A lot depends on the manufacturer of the jeans. Levis always fade, but
Wrangler stays blue, especially if you buy the really blue ones. My DH likes
to wear them to work, along with the black ones and they get washed 1x/week
and have stayed blue/black for a couple years and counting.

--
Boca Jan
Southern Florida - land of the hurricanes
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/poo_de_doo/my_photos


"Audrey" wrote in message
...

I had a fellow teacher ask me today how to keep blue jeans from fading. I
know the salt and vinegar trick worked on the older dies, but that is not
the case recently. I believe that someone mentioned something earlier but
I guess I corrected too many papers recently and can't remember.
thanks for the help
Audrey

What about those Jeans that I saw in the stores that were shot with
birdshot? Funny. Linda in Tx

In article ,
Audrey wrote:

I had a fellow teacher ask me today how to keep blue jeans from fading. I
know the salt and vinegar trick worked on the older dies, but that is not
the case recently. I believe that someone mentioned something earlier but I
guess I corrected too many papers recently and can't remember.

Blue denim is one of the few fabrics still dyed with indigo. The
particular technique used encourages fading. The threads are dyed
before the fabric is woven, in a process that limits the spread of the
dye into the thread. As the fabric wears, the surface is worn away and
the color pales.

If you've ever taken apart a pair of jeans worn out by someone who
doesn't use the back pockets, you'll see that while most of the fabric
is almost white, the area covered by the pocket is the original dark
blue. The same goes for the areas inside the felled seams.

So, no, there isn't anything you can do chemically to stop jeans from
fading, because it isn't caused by the dye itself fading but by the
surface of the fabric wearing away.

Indigo is probably the most colorfast of the vegetable dyes, and has
been used around the world, extracted from many different species of
plant, since prehistory. Commercially, fabrics are dyed with synthetic
indigo these days, and there was a major economic collapse in the West
Indies when it was invented in the late 19th century. It's chemically
identical to plant indigo, but vastly cheaper to produce.

We see a lot of those out here in the Swamp, mostly worn by Revenoo-ers and
insurance adjusters. Polly
"nana2b" wrote What about those Jeans that I saw in the stores that were
shot with
birdshot? Funny. Linda in Tx

LOL!!!!

Isn't it a style for Dick Cheney's friends also?
Taria


Polly Esther wrote:

We see a lot of those out here in the Swamp, mostly worn by Revenoo-ers and
insurance adjusters. Polly
"nana2b" wrote What about those Jeans that I saw in the stores that were
shot with

birdshot? Funny. Linda in Tx