During one of the Christmas days, something of a disaster occurred. I was alone at home. I know I had chewed gum, which I almost never do otherwise. But I had found one and was in need of some kind of pastime when all dear Christmas guests had gone home.
I’m sure I put the chewed chewing gum on the edge of the sink. I was sure. Why not the garbage bag, I think now. At least calmed by the chewing effect, I sat in the kitchen and read a newspaper online and looked at facebook among other things. I sat there for a long time. An hour maybe.
When I was going to make me a cup of tea, it happened unexpectedly. The chair I sat on followed me up. The chair was stuck in the pants. These were my finer jeans. Black. Finer, because I’d had guests.
Now it was not long before I discovered how it all happened. There was no chewing gum on the sink, where I’m sure I put it. The chewing gum was firmly sealed in the trousers.
Properly sealed. Not only did it stick. It had been warmed enough to sink completely into the fabric.
This was the situation. I did of course take my trousers off and I tried to get the chewing gum off. It was hopeless. It was completely ingrained. It was late and I could not manage so I gave it up and went to bed.
The next day I was at it again, however. There must be something online about this. I searched for ”wash away chewing gum” (but in Swedish ”tvätta bort tuggummi”). At 22 hits I stopped counting. It was the same everywhere: ”In the case of laundry, chewing gum is the biggest enemy. It’s a bad sticker that sticks straight into the fabric of your clothes and refuses to let go. ”Https://www.via.se/tvattips/smutsiga-hemligheter-hur-man-far-bort-tuggummi-fran- clades /
A tip that returned was to freeze the garment and then wipe away the chewing gum. Certainly good, but not when the gum’s got into in the fabric fibers.
Another tip was to heat the garment with a hair dryer. Then it would work to get rid of it with your fingers. However, with the risk of burning because chewing gum has a tendency to become hot hot.
Heating could also be done with iron. You should then put the wrapped fabric side down against a piece of cardboard and then heat the garment with the iron. According to what was said, the chewing gum would then cling to the cardboard instead.
One method that drew my attention was to moisten the gum with licqour. Now I never drink much liquor, but I had a little Eau de Vie brandy at home. We had picked sloe-berries on our Christmas day’s walk, and I had bought the cognac to make a liqueur according to a recipe I had previously tested successfully.
According to the chewing gum tip, after moistening the fabric with the spirits, then steam was to be used wiyh the garment in a way that I did not understand, and then you could wipe the chewing gum off with a piece of cloth.
I had no hope about success, but stubborn as I am, I now tested my own combination method as follows:
I moistened a cloth with the brandy. I rubbed the chewing gum site. Long and carefully. Yes, some chewing gum rolled away, but most of it still stuck. Then I got the nice idea to rub with detergent instead. I did this for a long time and carefully. Apply the detergent powder and rub it with your fingers. Repeatedly. Nice idea, yes. But after half an hour of treatment, the chewing gum was still stuck. Then I gave up. In some desperation I put the trousers into the washing machine. Set it at 40 degrees and drove off without any hopes at all.
But heureka! That was what made the trick. When the laundry program was finished, there was no trace of chewing gum on the pants. They actually looked like brand new! Imagine my surprise. Oh, I was glad not to have to let go of a pair of almost new black stylish jeans.
Thus:
Rub in with brandy. Rub on with detergents – for a long time. Put in the washing machine.
And the sloe:
Fill a glass jar with sloe berries (after they have had some nights of frost). Fill brown sugar until the jar is full (multiple tablespoons). Shake properly. Fill the jar all the way up with cheap brandy. Screw on the lid. Shake until the sugar has dissolved.
Let stand in room temperature for 3 – 6 months. Shake occasionally. Then pour through a sieve and pour into a bottle.
You get a delicious drink of about 20% alcohol and with delicious taste – actually reminding you more of strong wine than liqueur.
Ellington