- Invitation Status
- Looking for partners
- Posting Speed
- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
- Writing Levels
- Intermediate
- Adept
- Advanced
- Preferred Character Gender
- No Preferences
- Genres
- Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Quest, Sci-Fi, Time Travel and World Hopping, Steampunk, Action/Adventure, Modern Drama, Mystery, Slice of Life, Romance, and many more.
Here's a list of tips and tricks I've learned over the years from various sources, that help keep your clothes looking nice and lasting longer
- Shirts with pictures or words on them should be washed inside-out to protect the decoration (unless it's super-heavily soiled)
- Some fabrics will shrink a little even if you wash and dry them at cool temperatures; keep a small mental list of which ones and remember that if the garment is fitted when you try it on, it may be too tight after you wash it!
- Hand Wash your Hand Wash fabrics. If they were okay in a gentle cycle, the tag would say "gentle cycle". Handwashing is easy and quick to do, it's worth your time to learn.
- Silks are nearly always Hand Wash. When washing silk, it helps to use a tiny drop of gentle shampoo instead of detergent. Silk is a protein fibre, just like your hair. Using a shampoo will help to protect any colours in it and keep the fabric from deteriorating under chemical compounds.
- Silks are also nearly always hang-to-dry. Dry them in the shade, or inside away from windows; if silk dries in sunlight it starts to yellow.
- Hang to dry whenever you can; you'll save money on hydro, and wear your clothes out slightly slower than if you always tumble dry them. If your clothes are shrinkable, dry them in the shade.
- Flannel and Fleece are static MAGNETS. Throw a rubber ball or baby boot in the dryer with them to save yourself a shock when you take them out.
- Never use fabric softener with towels; it steals their absorbency.
- Jeans, bath towels, and other heavy/large things can sometimes take more than one cycle to dry; throw a dry towel in with them if you're in a hurry.
- Whenever possible, sort your clothes by colour; it does matter. Especially with white and black clothes, if you wash them with lighter/darker colours, they can start to fade or grey much faster than they otherwise would.
- If the tag on your garment says it needs to be ironed, iron it. Irons and ironing boards are both cheap, and can usually be obtained even cheaper from any secondhand store. Ironing is also easy and relatively quick (depending on the garment). Wrinkly shirts do not a good impression make!
- If you own a lot of or frequently need to wear business shirts, it's worth your time to learn how to properly starch a collar.
- Always check the tag before you buy a new piece of clothing; if the tag says hot water wash and 99% of the rest of your clothes are cold water, do you really like it enough to buy something that needs its own wash cycle? Is the shirt still attractive if you need to hand wash it, or iron it after each wash? Don't buy something if you're not willing to care for it properly; it won't last long enough to be worth it.
- Learn to sew at least a straight (up and down) stitch in a straight line. You will no longer need a whole new garment if a seam tears or a button falls off.
- Blood stains will come out with hydrogen peroxide and oxy-clean. If it's dried, moisten it with water and rub it with salt, too.
- If a pre-treatment with detergent doesn't work, you can also remove grass-stains with toothpaste and a brush, rubbing alcohol, or white vinegar.
- Clothes with crayon stains should be washed on a hot water cycle to get the wax to release from the fabric; if possible soak the clothes in hot water to warm them up beforehand.
- Grease stains can be removed by promptly sprinkling them with baking powder to lift the grease out. Launder as soon as possible.
- Sweat stains can be removed by pre-treating them with shampoo and then washing as usual
- Coffee/tea stains can be removed by promptly soaking in hot water
- Mustard stains usually don't want to come out for love or money. Don't spill mustard on your clothes; always use a napkin with your hot dog! But if it's too late for that, try blotting it as quick as possible and then soaking it in colour-safe bleach and warm water.
- Tomato stains should be soaked in a solution of cold water and a splash of white vinegar; rinse and repeat as necessary.
- Memorize THIS:
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