It worked!

A while ago I bought 2 items on Ebay. One was Samantha's sailor outfit. The other was her birthday dress. The sailor outfit came with the tam and whistle. The photos weren't clear and the description didn't seem like it was an authentic garment. But I studied the photos on ebay and determined that it WAS an authentic garment. The birthday dress was listed as a purple stripe dress and the photo wasn't too clear.

I bid on both garments anyway and was happy to find out they were the real thing, in very good condition too! There were few bids so I got each garment really cheap. The sailor outfit was so dusty it looked a little gray and had a yellow mark on one shoulder. The birthday dress was in great shape but it also was dusty. The pinafore is made of thin batiste, very sheer and lovely. Both outfits have labels of being Pleasant Company garments made in China.

I didn't want to put the clothes with my other garments because of the dust. Nor did my dolls try them on because of the dust. So the outfits stayed in a box for a couple months because I never had time to hand wash. Finally, I decided to take the chance of machine washing.

I set the machine to a medium load, which meant the large tub would fill half way with water. I used warm/cool water with a little Gain and a little Woolite Handwashable liquid detergent.

The cycle was set for delicate wash and then spin. When I took the outfits out of the washer, they were completely clean, and the whites were bright WHITE! Because there was so much water in the machine for the garments to slosh around in, they didn't get tangled or stressed.

The sailor outfit came out with still-perfect pleats in the skirt and none of the black trim bleeded into the fabric at all. The batiste pinafore was perfect. I straightened the fabric out by hand and lined dried all items.

I'm so happy machine washing worked that I ordered Samantha's button up boots and her pack basket accessories this week. And now my Laura (who doubles as Samantha) can wear the outfits. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Julia