Show Helpful Hints By Mary C. Boender Home Agent OF ELASTIC How do you launder elastic so they won't lose their Women here are not the only ones who have been asking this says Mary C. county extension home agent with Utah State Alice extension clothing specialist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture says it's one of the more frequent questions asked frequent queries asked throughout the nation about care of Home economists of the Illinois experiment station recently ran tests washing rubber- based elastic anu Knit-led nets 40 times in an automatic washer at temperatures of and degrees F. They used 21 different soaps and synthetic detergents purchased from a They report that no damage was done when clean terry cloth towels were washed along with the elastic garments as a when soiled sheets and pillow cases were used instead of the many of the braids lost their They said less elasticity was lost in laundering with soaps than with general-purpose synthetics used for regular the soaps also proved better in saving elasticity than the special detergent products that are sold for washing elastic the Illinois researchers has better soil suspending They also found that when clothes were tumble-dried at the medium heat or setting on the they didn't lose as much elasticity as when they were simply left to dry in the Tests indicate that elastic fabrics containing rubber should never be dried in In the Illinois tests net garments containing a spandex elastic fiber were not damaged by any laundering method These findings arc important to our Boender They often been advised to band-wash elastic under-garments In a cold or lukewarm soap solution and then dry them away from direct such directions are often not practical when the family washing includes men's and children's slacks which have elastic webbing or braids for waistline These need some of practical regular |