Stain Removal Tips

April 11, 2007 5:56 PM

Advice on removing a stain from my canvas bag?

I recently bought a purse that I love, a beige canvas bag with leather straps and fittings. Now one side of the canvas is all gray and dingy, presumably from being set down on an unclean sidewalk. I brought the bag to two dry cleaners, but both refused to clean it because of the leather fittings. Any ideas?

posted by piers to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

Best answer: Spot clean. I've washed canvas bags in the washing machine. They were the LL Bean type without lining. Obviously yours can't be laundered in a machine because of the leather.

I would mix up a solution of detergent and water in a spray bottle. Lay affected area on white towl or cloth. Must be white, you don't want colors to bleed. Spray dingy areas. Rub in circular motion with a very soft tootbrush. Spray with clean water to rinse. Blot. Air dry. Fill bag with towl or clean t-shirt while drying to maintain shape.

Now this is where things can get tricky. Canvas can sometimes be wrinkly after laundering. The washing causes the material to lose it's sizing. A good pressing with spray starch if you're able to avoid the leather might be a good idea. Use a press cloth. If not, try removing wrinkles with a hand held steamer if the bag needs pressing, being sure to avoid leather areas. It may not need pressing. Canvas has a lot of body, and you may not notice much of a difference after washing.

If your bag has a synthetic or silk lining, I would avoid the above advice and bring to a dry cleaner that specializes in cleaning leather.
posted by LoriFLA at 6:13 PM on April 11, 2007

Best answer: Seconding some dry brushing, at least as a first step. A toothbrush would do it, too.

Try another dry cleaner -- I've had similar bags cleaned before.
posted by kmennie at 7:00 PM on April 11, 2007

Try spot treating it with Oxyclean. That stuff gets almost anything out of anything.
posted by tastybrains at 7:19 PM on April 11, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks all! I will start with a dry brush, but if that doesn't work I'll have to try some wet techniques. I'll post the (hopefully positive) results when I'm done.
posted by piers at 9:32 PM on April 11, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks again, all - I did a first pass with a dry toothbrush to get about half the dirt off, then carefully spot-cleaned the rest.
posted by piers at 5:15 PM on April 17, 2007