How to whiten yellowed cotton pillow cases?

A friend gave me some beautiful but old cotton pillow cases. How do I whiten them?

Hi Anas,

I guess my first thought was to soak them in Biz bleach overnight. If that
does not work, I'd go with standard bleach.

:-) KM

if that don't work maybe borax.

Ah, yes, Borax is a good one, too! :-)

just don't soak in bleach overnite! lol

What i would do is maybe soak them in the borax and then hang them outside in the sunlight for a couple of days...the suns ALWAYS gets my whites whiter.

Char

Lemons have a natural bleaching ingredient and can be used to whiten washable fabric..

I forgot about Biz and borax. Duh! And we have sunshine galore and it is free!!

Also if you rinse them twice when you run them through the washer it really whitens all whites up. I have my washer set up to rinse twice and it really helps the whites.

I read that while researching this. Rinse, rinse!

You might try this to see if it will work.

1/4 cup bleach
1/4 cup dishwasher detergent
1 Gal. warm water

This is a formula I got from a TV program years ago. Though I've never used it for yellowed pillow cases, I have had success with other things, and it's especially good for baby formula stains.
After about 15 minutes or so I start checking to see if the stain is gone. If not I leave it longer. Just keep checking.
I usually double this recipe and keep a bucket of it for days in case I need it for something else.

thank you ginlyn. I have read that dishwasher detergent is good. Copied and will be posted in laundry room.

Oxi powder (any brand) and detergent in hot water wash should do it.

In the quilt world, we have a product called Vintage Soak. You can
leave articles in this and cold water up to three days. It does wonders
for even tough stains and yellowed fabrics. Good luck! YoYo1

did you ever wash them?

I did. I used a bit of bleach and some dishwasher detergent and let them soak over night. Then I rinsed 2x and hung out to dry. The sheets are much better but 2 of the pillow cases still need work. will try Biz and borax next.