Tips and ideas for removing set in stains from clothing. Post your ideas below.
I use a week long OxyClean soak. I routinely soak my dishtowels and dish cloths for a week in OxyClean plus some of my band members really stained t-shirts, a bedspread that had been used outdoors etc. - all with set in stains. The gold cotton bedspread did lighten up a bit but it was even and a huge stain that had been washed and dried for years came out! I use a half cup of powder to 5 gallon bucket of hot/warm water.
I've gotten the best results from OxyClean powder. I make a paste, rub it into the stain, let it set for a while, then wash it.
I buy and sell vintage linens. Lots of stains, some 50+ years old! Oxyclean works well but I really like Biz powder (there is a liquid but I like powder better).
Trick is to fill a bucket with hot water, dissolve a good sized scoop of Biz, stir, and add the item. Leave for as long as it takes to get the stain to leave. Two days, seven days, whatever. It never hurts the fabric. If water turns a very nasty tea color,it is working, pour water off, fill with hot water and keep soaking. If you have to pour off a few times, add a bit more Biz (I don't like the liquid Biz as much as it is blue colored so harder to see if the Biz is pulling out the stains).
If stains are especially bad, add some Tide with bleach alternative to the water too. That doubles the punch of the Biz.
This removes 50 year old coffee stains off of tablecloths and napkins and removes all the grime and dirt of being stored that long.
Make sure to rinse the Biz/tide off very very well or you end of with some of the smudge going back on fabric as long lines or drips.
Another tip that works for really really hard to remove stains like tea, only if fabric is white of course, is soak stain in lemon juice and put out in the sun. That usually will do it to remove the stain. Of course rinse it well after the stain has bleached out.
Red Jello stain: I made a paste out of OxyClean powder and Baking Soda to remove a red jello stain that had dried on a beige tee-shirt. I brushed the paste in with a toothbrush and let it sit for a while (I had already tried Shout and vinegar which didn't work).
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I used the following method to get out some set-in stains. (Red jello and spaghetti sauce mashed in and dried in the dryer, other unidentifiable stains noticed after clothes were dried.)
