Laundry Disaster!!! Please help! Advice needed...

[Doglover8180]

I have some beautiful and expensive white blouses that have a black built-in vest/sweater attached to them. All have been washed several times before. I washed them tonight with Woolite for Darks. I also washed a couple of black and brown sweaters with them as well. Something went wrong! And now the white blouses are all totally pink. I then re-washed them with Arm & Hammer Laundry detergent - not woolite - that did nothing. I can't bleach the blouses because the bleach would get on the black sweater vest. What do I do? I have not put them in the dryer - cause I know that would be the kiss of death. I am going to leave them sitting on the washing machine tonight until someone can tell me what to do... everything I have read online - says use bleach - but because these arent white blouses - they are attached to black sweaters that are built-in around them, I can't very well bleach them. Please, laundry pros out there, tell me what to do to get the pink out.

[hotcouponmama]

Well, there's a chance they are toast anyway. Not sure why they would turn pink based on what you said, but here's something I've done when I've needed to bleach whites that were part of colors.

Make up a solution of warm bleach water.

Get a couple of towels or rags you don't mind getting bleach on, and a small paint brush or basting brush.

Protecting the dark part of the clothing with the towels, use the brush to brush the bleach solution onto the white part of the clothes.

Then, to rinse, go very slowly with clean water, making sure towels absorb the runoff. Rinse and repeat until the white is white again. Then rewash completely to thoroughly get the bleach out. The towel rinse is just enough so that the bleach doesn't seep through the towels onto the darker part of the sweater.

Without seeing the sweater, I would also advise taking a plastic bag and bagging up as much of the dark part of the sweater that you can protect with the plastic.

Lastly, if you nick a spot on the dark with bleach, get a bit of black dye and touch it up.

You're still taking a bit of a risk doing this, but it's worth a shot cause otherwise, they are probably lost to you anyway.

HTH!

[saving-n-va]

try the color safe bleach and see if that works

[Doglover8180]

Do I re-wash them in hot or cold water or just warm? I have read conflicting stuff online?

[hotcouponmama]

I would rewash following the normal instructions for the sweater.

[TheWoman]

You could just decide that pink is your new favorite color.

[Doglover8180]

Haha...oh I am so sad... I just wanna cry... cause it was all of the ones I had... I had washed them all together... I don't even know how it happened... I am staying up to re-wash, I used the color safe bleach with a lil borax (have no idea if borax will help any) if that doesn't work, I am going to try the bleach idea - but there are so many parts at the black sweater covers with white sticking out - that it's going to be virtually impossible not to get bleach on the white - that's what I am afraid of....

[Apennysaved]

I haven't tried either of these so can't vouch for how well they work.

Amazon.com: Woolite Dye Magnet, Dye-Trapping Sheets - 20 ea: Health & Personal Care

<b>COLOR RUN REMOVER</b> - CAR00431

Best Way - Laundry Tips for Color Bleeding | eHow.com

Fixing Bleeds
If some of your clothing has already bled in the laundry, there are a few things that can be done to fix the problem. First, do not dry the clothes that have bled. First wash them again in cold or warm water; do not use hot water. If this does not fix the bleeding, you can soak the article of clothing in either a saltwater or vinegar soak. For salt, add a cup to a half gallon of lukewarm water. When using vinegar, add a half cup to a half gallon of cold water. Let the clothes soak for at least 30 minutes, then rinse in cold water.

[Doglover8180]

Well that didn't work - laundry just finished - still just as pink as before. :(

[Doglover8180]

I am trying the bleach next and if that doesn't work - I will get vinegar tomorrow and try that.