Fabric stains can become a major nuisance if you don’t have the right antidote on hand. Grease, blood, red wine, rust and much more can cause permanent damage, especially to fabrics that are already in need of care and vulnerable. And if you accidentally use the wrong product when cleaning clothes and upholstery, you could actually make the stain worse or damage the material. So it’s not that easy to keep your curtains, clothes and furniture covers clean for a long time. However, a look at the following tips and tricks on how to remove stains from your clothing will shed light on the darkness and provide quick first aid in textile emergencies. To see woodchip wallpaper, please check listofledlights.
Removing stains made easy – but not every stain is the same!
Since stains can usually be treated very differently, it is advisable to use special stain removers in each case. In addition to the stain itself, the substrate is also important, such as clothing, carpets, upholstery or other textiles. Anyone who has ever had to remove stains from clothing will probably have already noticed that many manufacturers of cleaning products can rarely keep their promises. After all, it is not for nothing that new, “better” cleaners keep coming onto the market, which contain promising additives but ultimately offer no noticeable difference. Precisely for this reason, it still makes sense today to fall back on well-tried cleaning agents and tricks from grandmother’s times, especially since these are usually much cheaper.
Basically, a few simple rules should be followed when washing textiles and removing stubborn stains or residues. This includes, for example, selecting the right program for the machine, using the right detergent or adding certain agents to get even better stain removal results. Below we give you an overview of how you can quickly and easily remove stains from clothes. The respective home remedies work wonders for cleaning upholstered furniture and removing stains from clothing.
Removing grease stains from clothing
Grease stains are very common. However, the treatment differs depending on whether the stain is still fresh or has already dried. Fresh grease stains can still be soaked up, for example with a dry potato skin pressed onto the stain. Potato flour works even better: Simply sprinkle it over the stain, soak it in and then brush it out with a brush. On the other hand, if the grease has already dried, it becomes a little more difficult to remove grease stains from clothing. The fat must first be liquefied again. Saltwater is good for this. Then the fat can be sucked up with potato flour as before and then brushed out.
Remove red wine stains from clothing and upholstery
Red wine is known for being very difficult or even impossible to wash out of textiles.
Especially at parties or on a cozy evening in front of the TV at home, it can quickly happen that a few drops of red wine end up unintentionally on the couch, sweater or carpet. It becomes especially difficult when trying to remove the stains from white clothing or light-colored upholstery. Sometimes it can happen that some residues can no longer be removed. The best home remedy for red wine is still salt, which is applied directly to the stain and sucks the moisture out of the fabric. This method works even better if a little lemon juice is applied to the stain beforehand. However, once the stains are deep in the fabric or have dried, stain removal becomes difficult. In fact, only bleaching and cleaning agents can do something here.
Bloodstains on fabrics
If the blood stains are still very fresh, they can usually be removed best. You can use cold water or, even better, salt water. To do this, the stain is first washed out of the textile, then soaked and finally treated with soap or liquid detergent. Similar to grease stains, light-colored fabrics are also a bit more demanding here. If simply washing out the stain is not enough, cornstarch can help: put it on the stain, moisten it a little, let it dry and brush it off. Potato starch also works well to remove stains and is mixed with a little water beforehand.
Remove stubborn oil stains
Even on the driveway, an oil stain is a real nuisance, but removing it from textiles is even more difficult.
Oil stains are relatively stubborn, but there are some very good methods to remove stains from affected fabrics. The careful use of benzine, for example, has proven to be successful – however, the liquid can also attack the substance itself. The so-called butter method is therefore more suitable for removing stains from your clothing: A piece of butter is rubbed into the oil stain, as this can dissolve the oil from the fabric. You can then wash your garment as prescribed.
Remove wax stains from clothing and tablecloths
Wax stains can also quickly appear in the household, especially in the cold season when candles are lit more often. They often appear on tablecloths, curtains or cushions in particular, but also on clothing. The easiest way to remove wax stains is to soak the fabric in water while holding an absorbent cloth on the stain. If there are still edges, they can be treated with alcohol. Another alternative to removing stains from clothing is to use blotting paper, which is simply placed on the stain and then ironed over at low to medium heat.
Stubborn pen stains
Ballpoint pens can be found on every desk, in every bag and in many drawers. When writing, a line quickly goes wrong. Even more annoying is a completely leaked lead that causes stubborn stains. Sprinkle lemon juice on clothing helps, on the other hand, on upholstery, the area can be moistened with vinegar essence solution and rubbed off with water after a short exposure time. A combination of hairspray and vinegar essence solution can be used on or in other fabrics – the stain must first be sprayed on, then it can be carefully brushed off with a brush sprinkled with vinegar essence.
Grass stains on pants? No problem!
Grass stains develop quickly in the warm seasons.
The use of water is not recommended for grass stains, because this only pulls the tannins of the grass deeper into the tissue. Vinegar cleaners or essence are better suited to remove the stain. It is enough to sprinkle the affected area with the vinegar cleaner. The textile is then washed as hot as possible – and the grass stain has already disappeared from the clothing.
Alternatively, agents such as alcohol or glycerin can be used. However, in moderation, otherwise the material could be attacked. Another helpful tip: Grass stains can also be removed very easily with butter – simply rub it in and wash as usual.
Musty smell in clothes and curtains
But not only stains can damage a beautiful fabric, odors are also often a nuisance. In many cases, you can already remove odors and stains from clothes with the normal washing program. An exception, however, is the typical musty closet smell that some items of clothing take on after a long period of time in the closet. The problem here is the fact that the bad-smelling molecules are so deeply embedded in the fabric that the laundry initially smells fresh after washing, but after a while it begins to smell unpleasant again.
In any case, the affected clothing should still be washed first, even though the well-known perfumed detergents or fabric softeners can hardly do anything to the smell. To remove odors and stains from clothes, washing soda should be used instead. After that, the laundry must be dried as quickly and warmly as possible – a warm, sunny day, for example, is suitable for this. A dryer is also ideal. After drying, the clothing is placed in a plastic bag and examined for a few hours for any mold odor that may develop. As long as the scent stays fresh, nothing more needs to be done. However, if there is still a somewhat unpleasant smell on the textile, the process should be repeated.
Remove odors from old cupboards and dressers
Antique furniture, in particular, tends to smell somewhat unpleasantly, and in some cases this smell can be transferred to the freshly washed laundry. The very old wood absorbs moisture, which causes the unpleasant stench. To keep it from getting stuck in food or clothing, there are a few ways to dehumidify and clean the closet .
First of all, vinegar or a vinegar essence is recommended, which disinfects and removes odors. However, liquid soaps for wooden furniture are also commercially available, which can remove at least the first odors with repeated use. However, this is not enough for many antique furniture. If you like the scent of vanilla, coffee or soap, you can put vanilla sugar, coffee powder and soap bars in the cupboard and let the scents take effect. Other alternatives are lavender bags or other aromatic herbs, which are particularly useful in wooden cupboards. Incidentally, lavender oil is considered an ancient cleaning and disinfecting agent that can also be used on antique wood. With these tools, not only does the cupboard itself stay fresh, but also its contents.
Restorers work with a plaster of fresh clay and straw in wooden furniture, which has to be scraped off again after a few months. With a final wash and oil treatment, almost all odors are removed, because clay binds the odor naturally.
Smelly laundry from the washing machine
Some know the problem: The washing machine is finally ready and the laundry wants to be hung up, but it doesn’t smell particularly fresh. The reason for this is usually your own washing habits, because low temperatures, fabric softeners and liquid detergents mean that soap residue can get stuck in the machine and bacteria can collect in the water. Some bacteria – such as Staphylococcus aureus or Escherichia coli – survive 30-degree washes without any problems, as do noroviruses, mold and yeast. These cause the unpleasant odors that are difficult to remove from clothing. Nevertheless, there is no reason to worry, because if you wash heavily used laundry such as underwear, cleaning rags, tea towels and towels at 60 degrees with heavy-duty detergent, you will get most germ colonization under control. However, caution is advised if the washing machine has not been used for a long time. 90-degree washes are only necessary for severe, acute illnesses that can be transmitted quickly, or for textiles for people who have a weakened immune system.
Remove odors from upholstery and carpets
Heavy smokers, cat and dog owners or lovers of antique furniture are surrounded by many smells that can settle not only in their clothes but also in the entire home. Carpets and upholstered furniture in particular absorb a lot of odors and can give off very unpleasant mixed odors after a while. If possible, all sofa covers , cushions and chair covers, as well as smaller sofa cushions, should be thoroughly machine washed to remove unpleasant odors from upholstery and fabrics. In the case of strong odors, several passes are often necessary.
Upholstery foam, which binds odors and also removes stains, is available in many specialist shops. The foam should be rubbed directly onto the upholstery and should act for a longer period of time. Finally, the accumulated dirt can be removed with a vacuum cleaner. The versatile use of vinegar is also helpful for upholstered furniture by rubbing vinegar water into the upholstery and brushing it off with a brush. This tip is especially helpful for heavy smokers. A container of vinegar water can absorb the smell of smoke in the home within several days. However, some furniture can hardly be rid of the intense odors despite thorough cleaning. A steam pressure washer could help
Baking soda, which removes the smell from large areas without any problems, helps against the smell in carpets. For this, the powder is evenly distributed over the entire carpet and should act overnight. Finally, the next day, homeowners can vacuum or shake out the carpet thoroughly—and many odors are gone.
