I do towel maintenance. We've had the same wonderful Restoration Hardware towels for ten years. I have nursed them along, but it's time. It's time to let them go.

I don't have fringe on my towels to groom.

LOL I do! I need new towels but we are making these last as long as possible. I also trim the edges of my bath mats. Some of the loops on the end come apart so I snip the long ones right off!

Yup.
Sure do.
I have a fitted sheet in the mending basket, too. Seems the corners come apart now and then.

Time to reclassify them as dog/rag towels and put the sheets in the pile of fabric for quilts or to make a rug.

Certainly, because if you don't trim off a pulled loop, it keeps on pulling out.

And I mend sheets if a hem comes loose or a corner seam rips open.

Yes, yes I do, lol ! I have a favorite pair of hand towels that are just a bit larger than the average hand towel, and until I can find replacements, I need them to last as long as possible.

So glad to know I'm not the only one who does this!

Yes, I do!! Cannot stand the little fringies on towels!!

I also have to groom my favorite rug, because apparently it is "tufted", which is not the best choice with cats.....but I know its pattern intimately!

Nancy

I sure do. I am very picky about my laundry. I also have a folding board so all of my T shirts fold to the same size. My children have always made fun of me. I also comb the fringe on all of my rugs everyday and everyone in the house knows that they are supposed to step over the fringe and not on the fringe.

My sheets and towels don't have loose strings. Well, sometimes sheets develop strings, but by that time they're pretty see-through anyway and it's time to say farewell. As for towels, we just started retiring our wedding towels about 5 years ago, but there are still a few in the cupboard, sans strings. We were married in 1970. I think maybe they used to make better quality towels.

Funny you should ask this. My Ralph Lauren towels have way too many strings, but they are functional, so I cant justify replacing them. I have them in three colors, one for each of the bathrooms. For us, I dont groom them, maybe if I get the chance, I count myself lucky if the clean towels get folded and put away before they get used and dirty again.

I did however have family stay over for the holidays and I saw some of the strings on the hand towels and I did some grooming for them :)

Yes, I do this with towels.

Springroz, I can relate. The rug is beautiful but never again with cats! Synthetic only from here on out.

If I put towels in the rag bag as soon they got some little strings and stuff, I feel like I would be getting new towels every year.

The only things I get on sheets are the extra threads from sewing them that seem to appear over time, although I usually try to cut all these excess threads off when I first get them.

Sometimes I do.

But you know what is my dirty little secret? I iron pillow cases. It's enough to fool me into thinking that I've ironed the entire bed.

I'm with the person who said they are dog towels or rags when when they get like that. Don't have time to groom laundry. Heck, I barely have time to wash and dry it. LOL!

Another groomer here. Bath towels and kitchen towels. I even like to mend socks. I find it soothing to stitch and make something whole again.

I've got 25 year old towels that are still servicable apart from the occasional fray that gets whipstitched after the thread gets trimmed. Yes, they could get donated to the animal shelter, but they aren't getting threadbare in the middle just yet.

Of course!.. I keep a little pair of scissor's (did I spell that right?) in the drawer in my laundry room just for that purpose. They really do come in handy for that purpose. I am the type of person that if I don't do it right then I will forget about it.

I always do. I keep a pair of scissors for just that reason in the cabinet above my washer and dryer and another in the nightstand drawer next to where I also fold clothes.

I tend to be quite picky about all aspects of laundry but don't keep 'high maintenance' items like that around for too long. I have too many other things I 'groom' willingly, mostly my clothes, myself, and my pets! LOL The older I get the more 'high maintenance' I am and it all takes time so won't waste it on towels.

Groom the area rugs due to cats ... The old Heriz area rug can get really fuzzy -- so it gets trimmed now and then ....

Beekeeper, I iron pillowcases, too.
It makes me feel so civilized!

I do from time to time, though not regularly enough to keep scissors by the dryer. I tend to keep towels around for a while and then slowly downgrade them as they become too worn for use in the bathrooms. I don't find this problem with sheets very often.

Yes. I groom not only our towels and mats but also those of the cats.

I have Monica Towel Categories, so as towels get ragged, they get moved down a notch. Never thrown out until they are cut into squares and used as serious rags- usually picking up dog "accidents". Tmi?

Another groomer here. I happen to love the 4 sets of towels we've been using for 10 years. They're no longer made and I'm just not excited about hunting down towels that I like. I even mended the towel that got caught in the agitator and tore.

I am a picky laundry person too and trim the stray threads. When the towels get dingy though, they become rags. And count us among those who like to iron the pillow cases. DH has been known to iron the hem of the top sheet too. Well, now that he's retired he does. And it feels so good.

Pillow case ironer here. Occasionally iron the top sheet--especially for guest room. Ironed pillowcases are the best,

I also iron my pillow cases, for the same reason-makes me feel so luxurious, though there is no way I'm ironing the entire king size set of sheets!

Don't groom laundry, never even thought about doing that. Then again I don't have threads dangling off my clothes and linens so it just never occurred to me since there isn't a need for it.

Ann

whew, I feel so much better.

I find that I need to "groom" NEW textile products (clothing, comforters, drapes)more so than old. The factories seem to leave a lot of loose threads. I notice this on quilted products.

I am a tag cutter too. IMO, there is nothing more frustrating that to hang a bath towel nice and neat and have the tag sticking out, or on a throw pillow, placemat, throw rug, etc. My scissors are nice and sharp because I hate tags too!

I'll cut the long loose threads off the towels. I never noticed that the sheets get threads on them. I cut tags off if I notice that they are poking out. I keep my better towels for when I have people staying over. I actually prefer the older towels because they are softer and not so thick. I always buy good towels and they last for many years before being demoted to the rag bag.

I am fussy about my clothes and always trim loose threads, sew up seams and shave the pills off woolens. I keep my shoes cleaned up although I have a couple pair that could use some new heels at the moment.

The only time I iron a pillow case is when I've let it sit in the dryer too long!

OOoooooo -- I HATE tags!! :)

Really drive me nutty ... especially on towels (or pretty scarves) or tablecloths or placemats ....

..... and Clothes!!

beekeeperswife.....ha ha ha

No fringe on my towels either. :0)

My dears, I contend that daytime reruns of Law and Order, and the Independent Film Channel, are there to keep me at the ironing board!

About ten years ago I invested in a large set of bath towels, etc. The bath towels are the size that will wrap around the whole body. Solid pastel pink, and solid pastel green.

A couple of years ago they started fringing so you betcha I keep them groomed! Why throw away perfectly good towels? Not even the center of the towels have thinned.

Only thing wrong though, is I can't justify buying new colors. lol.

Yes I do! I keep scissors in the laundry room, clothes closet, bathroom, and garage to groom various things.

I have scissors stuck (magnetic) to the washer and other places so they are handy to do requisite grooming.

Here is a link that might be useful: Magnetic Scissors

Don't use fringey towels anymore, but I do groom loose strings and pulls. I switched to all white towels throughout the house, so when one gets too bad or stained with something that won't come out, it goes to DH's shop.

I noticed that a lot of our sheets were getting torn and I almost threw them out, but then I realized it was DH's fault-he can't sleep in one place and he's dug holes into things. I realized I'd paid a good price for the sheets, and I loved how they felt, so I've been mending them.

I'm trying to be less of a consumer, resuing and using up as much as I can before discarding, so yes, I groom laundry. I also mend socks too. Haven't gotten to ironing the pillow cases yet, but there are times I've been verrrry tempted. If my ironing board were able to be set up all the time, I'd iron everything. I've got a 4 day weekend...might have to finally iron some things now that I've thought about it.

I have owned three irons in my married life and my husband has ruined them all using them to wax his skis. I no longer iron. Anything. I do use my hair straightener to press out wrinkles in my shirts sometimes....

Funny thing about towels--- seems the unlikeliest ones don't last. The worst are charisma--- they barely made it through two years before the loops started coming loose. They became dog towels :-) The Sferra Bros. towels I buy now have never needed any interventions--- not yet, anyway, and it's been about five years.

At a Christmas party I brought out some jacquard napkins in a holiday print that have serged edges and HK and I spent at least an hour trimming little bits of thread off the edges, especially at the corners. They are not the best quality but but I have at least 50, bought on sale one year for a garden club buffet and if they're trimmed they don't look too bad.

As for ironing sheets, I have a weakness for the finished product but no skill or patience for the ironing itself. We're lucky to have an HK who actually loves to iron.

KSWL - If you, or a friend, has a serger, you could simply re-serge the napkin edges in the proper manner and have lovely napkins without the fraying. That is, if they're big enough to have another hem edge added.

I don't have towels with fringe.. but I do have jeans that I cut off at mid calf and fringed. I do groom them.

Love the magnetic scissors!

I keep an iron in the bedroom and I have ironed pillow cases but it's far from a regular activity. I've never darned socks or mended sheets-- by the time they go, they are ready for the garbage.

Do I do towel maintenance, to answer pal's original question? No, not really, not regularly. In fact, my initial reaction was, well, that's a somewhat odd question. Or is it??? A favorite tool is a level. Periodically, I go around the house with it to ensure all the art is hung perfectly straight. Such pleasure when that little bubble is in the direct center of the window! I have been going through old papers and small items that had belonged to a relative and, yesterday, I came across a small jewelry box, the kind that might have contained a charm or pair of small earrings. How exciting to find that, instead of jewelry, it contained a tiny level, a little smaller than my thumb, yet with both horizontal and vertical bubbles!

I would talk about ensuring all cans and jars face forward in the fridge and in cabinets and pantry, except that I've already highjacked (trimmed?) pal's thread as it is.

I never thought of that, Trail! I bought the napkins on sale for a specific party and thought they'd be handy for similar events but they're too stringy to use without the "grooming,"---btw, great name for that process, Pal!

We don't have a serger and I don't know anyone who does, but I'll bet i could find a local seamstress who would re-finish the edges. They're full size napkins, so if the area were reduced a bit it wouldn't really matter for a buffet napkin. Thanks for the idea!

hmmm...all the talk about "today's towels" don't last like ones from the good ol' days makes me wonder if the manufacturers are doing that on purpose...to make you buy more towels.

Nylon is an extremely strong material.....they had to figure out a way to make panty-hose run or else you wouldn't have to buy them over and over again.

(I've been steaming curtains for hours today, just a step away from ironing)

I do cut hanging threads from the WalMart towels I bought for the dog. After it rains or snows, I let her roll on one of the towels on the floor, then I wrap her up in a 2nd towel and cuddle her up, drying her and -- during snow season -- trying to get the little ice/snow balls off her.

I cut the threads off because I don't want her pulling them. I'm not exactly worried about how those towels look to visitors.

The towels I used in college -- 1980-84, lasted a good number of years. Somewhere down the line, they must've gotten mixed up with my parents' stuff, cuz I now longer have them. But I do believe that the older stuff was better quality.

Concerning bedsheets, today I finally tossed a white fitted sheet and its 2 pillowcases (the flat sheet is folded and stored in a closet with other flat sheets, which I never use) because there was just a bit too much yellowed, regardless of various products I've tried. But I've had those for a good 10 years. Plus I let the dog up on her own pillowcase, so I guess I've gotten good use of those.

I will be looking forward to rotating in a fresh fitted sheet and cases. I've been rotating 3, all white, same pattern.

Speaking of grooming towels--I've always wondered if most people cut the labels off of their towels. I leave mine on so I know where to get replacements if need be, but I really don't like them on there.

What does everyone else do about labels on linens?

I fold things so they don't show. I'm not sure what it says about me that it's never occurred to me to cut off the labels, but it probably ain't good!

I groom my laundry and iron/starch my pillowcases and top sheet. My kids have always joked about it, but when they slide into a freshly made bed, theres always a sigh "ahhh".I know the feeling.