Is this 2 year old stain fixable?
June 20, 2012 9:18 AM Subscribe
What are the chances that a 2 year old cake frosting stain will come off my dry-clean-only dress?
2 years ago, I attended a wedding, and in a terrible confluence of the cake and my boob, I got a bit of frosting on my dress. I did not attempt to spot clean this at all, thinking that maybe if I left it to "set," I'd be able to scrape it off and there wouldn't be a problem. To my eternal shame, after the wedding, I put the dress in a box and then moved house, promptly forgetting about it. I was doing a closet purge today and came upon it, still with a long orange streak of frosting on it.
I wouldn't mind keeping this dress around, sans stain, so my question is two-fold:
1) is it even worth attempting a spot clean of this, and if so, what are my safest options for doing so?
2) would dry cleaning get rid of this mess? I'd prefer not to have to go that route, especially if it's not going to make a difference (or possibly make it worse), but it's not out of the realm of possibilities.
The label says 58% nylon/42% polyester. Composition of frosting unknown, but presumably sugar, butter, food colouring, etc.
2 years ago, I attended a wedding, and in a terrible confluence of the cake and my boob, I got a bit of frosting on my dress. I did not attempt to spot clean this at all, thinking that maybe if I left it to "set," I'd be able to scrape it off and there wouldn't be a problem. To my eternal shame, after the wedding, I put the dress in a box and then moved house, promptly forgetting about it. I was doing a closet purge today and came upon it, still with a long orange streak of frosting on it.
I wouldn't mind keeping this dress around, sans stain, so my question is two-fold:
1) is it even worth attempting a spot clean of this, and if so, what are my safest options for doing so?
2) would dry cleaning get rid of this mess? I'd prefer not to have to go that route, especially if it's not going to make a difference (or possibly make it worse), but it's not out of the realm of possibilities.
The label says 58% nylon/42% polyester. Composition of frosting unknown, but presumably sugar, butter, food colouring, etc.
I am a brave person who tries to avoid the dry cleaners when it comes to stained fabrics (because 99% of the time they just set the stain, rather than removing it).
You can (generally) use small amounts of cleaners even on dry clean only dresses. IME nylon/polyester dresses are more concerned with wet heat than with water itself.
I would try two things. (1) Make a thick paste of Oxyclean and water. (2) Use a very very small amount of citrus-based cleaner on the stain only. The second technique got a 10-year-old red wine stain out of my mom's (dry clean only) wedding dress.
posted by muddgirl at 9:29 AM on June 20, 2012
You can (generally) use small amounts of cleaners even on dry clean only dresses. IME nylon/polyester dresses are more concerned with wet heat than with water itself.
I would try two things. (1) Make a thick paste of Oxyclean and water. (2) Use a very very small amount of citrus-based cleaner on the stain only. The second technique got a 10-year-old red wine stain out of my mom's (dry clean only) wedding dress.
posted by muddgirl at 9:29 AM on June 20, 2012
Seconding muddgirl's suggestion of Oxyclean - it is really good with grease spots (the only thing I've found that has worked).
Use cold water, since hot temperatures can set a stain.
posted by Currer Belfry at 9:34 AM on June 20, 2012
Use cold water, since hot temperatures can set a stain.
posted by Currer Belfry at 9:34 AM on June 20, 2012
Oxyclean has made every stain of mine ever go away. But I've never tried it on dry-clean-only.
I also have good faith in my dry cleaners. Not a 2-year-cake stain, but similar: my dry cleaner recently took a 4-month ice cream stain out of silk. If I were you I would probably take it to a good dry cleaners and ask them what they think before you do anything on your own. When I go, I ask them for an assessment, and I make sure they mark it with a sticker so that they remember to pay attention to that part.
posted by manicure12 at 6:34 PM on June 20, 2012
I also have good faith in my dry cleaners. Not a 2-year-cake stain, but similar: my dry cleaner recently took a 4-month ice cream stain out of silk. If I were you I would probably take it to a good dry cleaners and ask them what they think before you do anything on your own. When I go, I ask them for an assessment, and I make sure they mark it with a sticker so that they remember to pay attention to that part.
posted by manicure12 at 6:34 PM on June 20, 2012
« Older What can you do for an acquaintance in ICU? | Google and Firefox not playing well together? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by feral_goldfish at 9:26 AM on June 20, 2012