he hottest (and coolest) color this summer is – white! To get your favorite summer clothes – and linens – their whitest white, try these five fabulous fabric tips.

• For brighter, softer, stain-free clothes, add 1/2 cup Arm and Hammer® baking soda to your regular detergent in the wash cycle, then add 3/4 cup Heinz® white vinegar to the rinse. Soak really dingy clothes for ten minutes in the baking soda-detergent mix before washing in the hottest water fabric will accept. Vinegar smells should vanish after clothes have dried.
   
  
• To remove discolorations and make clothes smell as fresh as they look, add your regular detergent plus one cup of ReaLemon® lemon juice to the wash water and let machine agitate before adding laundry. After clothes have spun dry, line dry them in the sun – sunlight is a natural bleach. (To remove stubborn stains, rub on a paste of lemon juice and salt, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then wash garments as usual and dry in the sun.)
   
  
• To brighten delicates and knits, mix 2 teaspoons Schilling® Cream of Tarter in one gallon of hot water and soak overnight. Hand wash or machine wash garments on the delicate cycle, using a gentle fabric wash or detergent, such as Woolite®. Dry flat or as recommended on garment labels.
   
  
• The mineral content of your water can turn whites a dingy gray. To whiten, dissolve one cup Tide® powder, one cup Biz® powder and one cup Cascade® powder in a large load of hot water. Let your washing machine agitate to mix the powders, then add clothes and soak several hours or overnight. Double rinse with cold water.
   
• To remove perspiration stains from white or light-colored clothes, make a paste of Adolph's® Meat Tenderizer and water. Using a toothbrush, gently rub the paste into the stains before laundering. The meat tenderizer breaks down proteins, lifting perspiration out of the fabric and leaving clothes brighter and stain-free.