Can you bleech dust sheets or cotton twill?

[Sonak]

Thanks in advance

[Jugglering]

You can bleach anything you like ! However, if your sheets are coloured then you will find that the colour gets removed if you use too much, or don't dilute it. Old, worn fabrics may also rot if you aren't too careful.

Why do you want to bleach the sheets ?

[Sonak]

Hi Jugglering thanks for your reply.

I want to bleech them to use them for table and chair covers for my wedding reception next year as I am on a really tight budget!!!

Can I use any bleech?

[Jugglering]

Ahh, ok, I get it - you want white or nearly white fabric for covers and chairs and you have a whole stack of unwanted sheets etc that could be used, if only they were white !

Yes, any bleach will work, the thicker stuff will need to be diluted with some water and then the sheets soaked in it. Depending on what colour the sheets are now, you may need to bleach each sheet several times. The only time I've ever succeeded in totally removing the colour from anything was when I accidentally dripped thick bleach onto a dark coloured hand towel. When soaking the sheets, don't leave them in the bleach solution for too long or they will start to rot ! Just buy a large bottle of the cheapest bottle of thick bleach you can buy (Lidl or Aldi are about the cheapest supermarkets at the moment), then make up a bleach solution in a large container. I would use my bath or sink but only because they are a steel ones, I wouldn't do it in a plastic bath or sink. In a well ventilated room, try a solution of 10% bleach, 90% warm water, mix well, then using an old wooden spoon and wearing rubber gloves, gently add your sheet to the liquid and stir well. Leave for 5 minutes and check on what colour the sheet is, return to the solution if necessary for another 5 minutes. Make sure you rinse the sheet really well afterwards (I'd probably launder it and add some fabric conditioner once I was happy with the resultant colour). Let us know how you get on with one sheet before you do a whole stack of them !

[Sonak]

Thanks again Jugglering, I saw these sheets on ebay so I'm just looking around before I go for it. One seller is sending us a sample so we can see what its like, it looks like a beige or cream or even off white but we wanted something really white. Hope this bleech thing goes well, I'll keep you posted!!!!! :)

[Jugglering]

One small point - I've always found that dust sheets (the cotton twill variety) were a really coarse greyish material - why not have a peek at some in a DIY merchants place (say B&Q) before you buy any on-line... I'm not really sure that you'd want them as dining cloths, even if they were bleached white or off-white.. they are quite a rough fabric !

You might be better off spending your money on plain white sheets from somewhere like Dunelm Mills or even Shaws the Drapers. As the wedding is not until next year, you surely have time to wait for the January sales for say some table cloths in one of these places - have you got The Range near you - they do very reasonably priced table cloths and linens. (I hadn't realised you intended buying the fabric first, then bleaching it...doh, I thought you already had it !)... Another solution would be to buy a large quantity of curtain lining fabric (usually comes in cream polycotton) from an upholstery or fabric shop - there are loads of them on-line - and then getting a friend or three to sew/hem them into tablecloths etc.