oubliette

I went to a church rummage sale today and got, amongst some other cute vintage treasures, a heavy black wool circle skirt with a tag that said something about 'sporting apparel', leading me to believe it's probably an old riding skirt. When I got home I took the skirt, which needed cleaning, and set it aside, and hung everything else out on the line to air out.

I filled a bucket with about half a cup of borax, some dish soap, and lots of cold water, and left the wool skirt to soak. When I came back maybe half an hour later, the water was black. Not even, like, grey or brown. It looked like ink, thick and black, and it stank of mothballs. I suspect someone must have tried to dye it but never rinsed it out. It was so gross! After one water change the water was still inky black, and it took at least five more rinses to get the water to any semblance of clear.

The mothball stink was still terrible, so I mixed up some Borax, white vinegar, and more cold water and let it soak. It helped a little, and now the skirt is laid out flat in the backyard. It's a full circle skirt, really nice, actually, and the tag (now stained black, alas) reads 'Peerless Sportswear'. My mouth tastes like mothballs.

I haven't been on in a while, and I owe some packages to some people. I feel terrible, and they'll get sent out soon.