Need B18 Blanket advice - wrinkles! (IMAGES ADDED!) :-)

[MjEj]

First, I'd like to say I'm new to this website, and impressed at the level of knowledge & expertise in this community!

I've just begun collecting B18s, and purchased the Chick Gandil that was on eBay about a week ago. I saw it had some discoloration & the edges were a little miscut, but I was happy to snag a Gandil for $29.00 since I have a limited budget.

However, the seller carelessly mailed the blanket loose in an envelope, with only a small piece of cardboard inside to "protect" it (I'm often shocked at how careless some ebay sellers are when packaging collectable items). En route, the blanket collapsed & "bunched" at the bottom of the envelope, resulting in many ugly wrinkles --- which have not come out after letting it sit for awhile. I even tried to carefully stretch & flatten the blanket with a couple small books. Didn't work much.

Does anyone have any advice? The seller has been snotty, but offered to refund my money if I send the blanket back at *my* cost. What would you do?

Also....My wife suggested I attempt to carefully "iron out" the wrinkles by covering the blanket with a white sheet & then ironing it on the lowest setting (so it wouldn't be hot enough to burn or anything). Has anyone ever attempted something like this?

Thanks in advance!

-Michael

Avoid direct heat of any iron. I would take 2 clean white cloth dinner napkins( got 5 for $10) and moisten with very hot water. Lay blanket inbetween and press with several never used phone books or heavy items. repeat as necessary. Then repeat the process with dry and press till dry

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by MjEj

First, I'd like to say I'm new to this website, and impressed at the level of knowledge & expertise in this community!

I've just begun collecting B18s, and purchased the Chick Gandil that was on eBay about a week ago. I saw it had some discoloration & the edges were a little miscut, but I was happy to snag a Gandil for $29.00 since I have a limited budget.

However, the seller carelessly mailed the blanket loose in an envelope, with only a small piece of cardboard inside to "protect" it (I'm often shocked at how careless some ebay sellers are when packaging collectable items). En route, the blanket collapsed & "bunched" at the bottom of the envelope, resulting in many ugly wrinkles --- which have not come out after letting it sit for awhile. I even tried to carefully stretch & flatten the blanket with a couple small books. Didn't work much.

Does anyone have any advice? The seller has been snotty, but offered to refund my money if I send the blanket back at *my* cost. What would you do?

Also....My wife suggested I attempt to carefully "iron out" the wrinkles by covering the blanket with a white sheet & then ironing it on the lowest setting (so it wouldn't be hot enough to burn or anything). Has anyone ever attempted something like this?

Thanks in advance!

-Michael

Michael,

I've never used an iron on a B18, but I have had success ironing out wrinkles on 1940s pennants in my collection. Similar to what your wife suggested, I placed a slightly damp, clean tea towel on each side of the pennant and gently ironed the creased area at the lowest setting. I did it for only about 10 to 15 seconds at a time -- and very lightly! I'd suggest using white towels to avoid the risk of any color from the towel transferring to the blanket. It's unlikely this would happen, but better to be safe than sorry.

I think using something thicker (a thin towel as opposed to a sheet) ensures you'll protect the blanket from possible damage.

Again, this has worked for me on pennants. I can't guarantee the results on a B18.

[MjEj]

Thanks for the idea, Pup! Sounds like you've done this before.

I was actually more afraid of moisture than heat, since it seems like a lot of these B18s have colors that have "bled." But you apparently think otherwise?

[MjEj]

Thanks, Rob, for your own experiences with pennants. At least I know light ironing has worked with those.

[jtschantz]

Please give us an update on what you end up trying and the results...thanks in advance

[MjEj]

OK, so here's what I tried....so far: Light ironing.

Deciding not to (yet) work "moisture" into the equation, I put the blanket between two white sheets, made sure it was flattened & stretched out, then ironed lightly over the blanket several times. I had the iron on the lowest heat setting, and only ironed for about 7-10 seconds at a time.

The result?? Better, but still some wrinkling (see pics below). Any further advice? Should I try a very light spray of moisture? Leave it alone? Burn it in a ritual to excise Gandil's sins?

I forgot to take "before" pics (duh), but here are the "after" pics. (make sure to look at the last few, where I get down to "eye level" and with no flash. That is where you can see the wrinkles that still exist.)

***I should note for the record that the light staining/soiling was already present. The ironing did not do anything to alter the color/brightness/condition**

[Leon]

I haven't tried it but steam sometimes takes wrinkles out of fine clothing without hurting the fabric. I still think a tiny bit of moisture (light mist) then ironing on low between sheets (as you did) could work. Just some thoughts ....

[Wihawk]

Even with the wrinkles, it still looks nice enough to me to have on display.
Ritualistic burning sounds very intriguing but the possibility of summoning demonic spirits would scare me out of going through with it

[HexsHeroes]

.

. . . My experience with the red borders is that the color will run when damp. Not sure where "moist" ends, and "damp" begins. I think that some of your soiling is actually some transfer of red color from another blanket.

I learned the hard way. I've got a Walter Johnson blanket that was folded in quarters. I wanted to remove the quartering creases, so I used light steam, and ironed the blanket between clean, off-white dish towels. The red borders ran, and now I am sorry I did not leave it as I found it.

Still kicking myself for not accepting a perfectly fine, vintage item as I found it.

[MjEj]

Originally Posted by HexsHeroes

.

. . . I wanted to remove the quartering creases, so I used light steam, and ironed the blanket between clean, off-white dish towels. The red borders ran, and now I am sorry I did not leave it as I found it.

Still kicking myself for not accepting a perfectly fine, vintage item as I found it.

Hexs.....Wow, thanks for sharing that story. I'll be sure to learn from it. Even if the wrinkles persist, I'm thinking I will not attempt any moisture-related remedies. I might try another quick ironing on a very low setting, but like you said, I'd rather have an imperfect-but-cool item than a cool item I've ruined!

-Michael