The Farm Home and Kitchen

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 60, Issue 1, 15 January 1940, Page 76

The Farm Home and Kitchen

Contributed by the Association for Country Education

Useful Hints for Removing Stains From Your Clothes

THERE are many ways of staining one’s clothes in the summer. Walk through long grass after the cars have passed over it and the grease from the underside of the cars plentifully marks one’s stockings; slip on the grass and there’s a green stain; eat a juicy peach and the drips leave a stain and so it goes on. To take the grease out of stockings, etc., first apply a solvent, such as carbon-tetra-chloride, or any proprietary dry cleaner. Do this in the usual way for removing grease, that is, put a dry pad of cloth on the grease and draw a circle of solvent around the mark on the wrong side and then work it inwards. When nearly all the grease has passed on to the pad, wash the stockings, etc., in warm suds in the usual way. If the garment cannot be washed just repeat the application of solvent, using a dry part of the pad, thus rinsing all the greasy solvent out. Light-coloured, wash-leather gloves stained with car grease can easily be washed spotless if the grease is first softened with solvent. Tar Tar will also dissolve in carbon-tetra-chloride or in turpentine. If possible, dip the tarry part right into the solvent in a small bowl and rub the tar out. Afterwards, wash in warm suds to remove the remaining mark. Otherwise treat as described above. Tar stains on a carpet should be scrubbed with a cloth soaked in the solvent and the treatment repeated until no more dark colour comes off on the cloth.

For washable materials, if the tar stain is old and dry, rub some lard or butter into the stain and wash it in soap and water several times. Grass Stains Grass stains can usually be removed by washing in hot water and soap as in ordinary washing, but if the material is woollen and must receive more gentle treatment, a mild bleach, such as Condy’s crystals, followed by peroxide, can be used to remove the stain. The solution to use should be made of J teaspoonful of the crystals in 1 cup of water. Dampen the woollen garment and stretch the stained part over the mouth of a basin containing luke-warm water. Apply the pinkish liquid to the stain with a medicine dropper or a clean cork and allow it to remain for about five minutes. Then remove the pink or brown stain with hydrogen peroxide applied in the same way. Rinse at once by dipping into the basin. If the grass stain has not completely faded, the treatment can be repeated. Be sure to wash the garment well in warm suds afterwards. If there is no peroxide available, lemon juice may be used instead. Be Sure- to rinse well after using these or any bleaching agents. Fruit Stains Fruit stains will wash out readily (while still fresh) in clear hot or warm water (no soap). If they are once allowed to set either through drying-in or washing with soap, the Condy’s crystals and peroxide treatment will usually remove them.

Sometimes acid fruit juices fall on coloured materials and bleach out the colour. To restore it. an alkali must be applied. Before using the alkali, if possible test its effects on a small piece of material to see whether it will affect the colour. If it is found that the dye is not affected by ammonia, the simplest treatment is to hold the stain over a bottle of strong ammonia so that the fumes can penetrate the material. Another simple treatment is to moisten the stain and sprinkle ordinary baking soda on it (both sides). When effervescence ceases, sponge or rinse the spot with clear, warm water. Chewing Gum Stains Chewing gum stains left after the gum has been scraped off may be removed either by softening the stain with egg-white and washing in the usual way or by sponging alternately with carbon-tetra-chloride and clean warm water. Dye Stains Dye stains from wet bathing suits, etc., are difficult to remove, as they differ in chemical composition. Some will bleach out if repeatedly alternately soaked in water for 10 to 12 hours and put out in the sun. A safe bleach for white silk and wool is dilute peroxide made slightly alkaline with a few drops of ammonia. Soak the stain in this solution until it disappears and then rinse very thoroughly. Resins from pine trees, etc., can be removed by sponging with turpentine,

carbon-tetra-chloride, or methylated spirits. Perspiration Stains Perspiration stains can usually be removed by sponging with fresh water to which a few drops of ammonia have been added, or by the use of baking soda as described for removing acid fruit stains. After rinsing well, put the garment in the fresh air. If the material is white and there is a yellowish stain, bleach it out with either

Condy’s crystals and peroxide or peroxide alone (with a few drops of ammonia added). Mildew Stains Mildew stains which will not respond to bleaching with soap and water and sunlight, nor to lemon juice and sunlight, can be bleached with the Condy’s crystals method. However, if the material has been badly eaten into by the mildew nothing can prevent its

rotting, no matter how mild the bleaching treatment used. Very bad stains from fruit, vegetable, or tea may be removed from white cotton and linen by the use of Javelle water. This is a very strong bleach and is not recommended for g enera i household purposes, but should anyone require it to bleach a white tablecloth, bedspread, etc., which has been badly stained, application may be made to A.C.E. Headquarters, for the directions for making and using it.