Keep your holiday fabrics looking great this Christmas!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but the holidays can bring about a new batch of seasonal stains you might not have ample experience dealing with.
Between office parties, neighborhood gatherings, family get-togethers and so much more, we understand you probably don’t have time to drop everything and get your holiday fabrics to your local Fabric Care Cleaners as soon as stains strike. And with many stains, time is of the essence. Here’s how you can act fast and fight back against some of the holiday season’s most common culprits.
Christmas tree sap
Don’t let this sticky, icky stuff keep you from rockin’ around the Christmas tree! To remove sap from your favorite festive clothing, tree skirt or other fabrics, start by blotting with cool water and rub in a fingertip’s worth of dishwashing detergent or an enzyme-based stain remover. Once the sap is broken down and wiped away, rinse the area or blot with warm water to remove the final signs of sap and detergent.
Be careful if your tree skirt is adorned with beads, sequins or any sort of decorative trim, however, as the glues and adhesives used likely can’t be safely washed. If that’s the case, any of our Greater Indianapolis locations can dry clean Christmas tree skirt stains away — or we’ll send our sleigh to you as part of our Gold Star Delivery Service!
Candle wax
Real candles make for festive decor, but leave them lit too long and you may end up with a waxy mess on your favorite table linens. There’s two easy methods for its removal, however. Placing the stained item in the freezer will harden the wax and make it easy to scrape off using a dull butter knife or spoon. You can also use an iron on its lowest setting with a brown paper bag in between to absorb the wax as it melts.
Fireplace soot
There’s nothing quite like the ambiance and glow of a warm fire during the holidays. But if the experience leaves soot on your clothes, avoid the temptation to wipe it away with a wet cloth. Soot is oily and, since oil and water don’t mix, you’ll end up only making things worse. Instead, use a dry sponge to remove as much as you can. If there are stubborn smears and spots remaining, using a small amount of rubbing alcohol or specially designed soot erasers will help.
Grease
With delicious turkey and other buttery, oily eats on the menu, a grease stain may be an inevitable present you aren’t looking forward to. Dish soap designed to cut grease is your best bet for such stains and should work well in tandem with cool water. Let your fabrics air dry after treating a grease stain, as machine drying can keep lingering stains set permanently.
Chocolate
Everybody loves dessert, but nobody likes dealing with stains left from chocolaty treats. Chocolate is another substance that can be easier to remove after its been hardened or frozen, so start by rubbing an ice cube over the affected area and scrape off as much as possible. Soak the remaining stain with club soda and run the back side of the stain under cool water to flush it out. A drop of dish soap may come in handy, too, before rinsing with warm water.
Blood
If a finger gets in the way as you’re carving turkey or cutting open your children’s tricky present packaging, you want to act fast — not just for your health, but for cleaning up any blood stains! With most fabrics, a little soap and cold water is all that’s needed to clean a fresh blood stain. Hydrogen peroxide is also a great solution, but you may want to spot test an inconspicuous section of the fabric to make sure it won’t affect the colors.
Whatever happens this holiday season, don’t let a pesky stain spoil your holly, jolly festivities. If it’s something you aren’t sure how to treat, our elves at Fabric Care Cleaners have seen it all and are fully equipped to tackle the toughest of stains. We’ll keep your favorite fabrics looking merry and bright so you can end 2019 and start the New Year looking your very best.
