Cashmere, Silk and Beetroot

December 4, 2013 5:49 PM

[Stainremovalfilter] Spilled some delicious beet juice on my aqua blue sweater. It's silk and cashmere.

Unfortunately, the juice dried. How do I remove the stain? I tried washing it in cold water with soap but there still is some discoloration. Do I have to soak the sweater in beet juice and get comfortable with the idea of a purple sweater? Please advise.

posted by travelwithcats to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (3 answers total)

Best answer: I would take it to a dry cleaner that you really, really trust. They are going to have some sort of high-powered enzyme/chemical product that might be able to pull the color out. Unfortunately you might be out of luck since you've already tried washing it and it's dry - that often sets stains. But, I wouldn't try anything else but letting the pros handle it at this point, as they will have better luck if it is salvageable.
posted by joan_holloway at 6:20 PM on December 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: You can wash cashmere and silk in hot water. Silk actually likes heat and cashmere is safe if you don't agitate it. So something like OxoBrite that you dissolve in hot water is an option, and I find OxoBrite to be pretty good at getting rid of stains.
posted by clavicle at 6:23 PM on December 4, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for your advice. The good news is all stains are gone! Another wash (on the wool setting on my washing machine) took care of it. Hooray!
posted by travelwithcats at 10:11 AM on January 27, 2014