I noticed no one suggested plain old bleach. I don't know if I can find any of the
other recommendations around here--can't even get washing soda anymore...
I recently had occasion to need - of all things, an apron! The only one I could find in my home was one I'd embroidered when I was in jr. high school, so many years ago you all don't need to know ;).
It also had several large brown stains that looked like rust stains, but rust remover didn't take them out. Neither did regular chlorine bleach ( I soaked it for more than an hour). Figuring I had little to lose, I tried squirting the stains with dishwasher detergent, (as in Cascade, not mild dish soap). To my great relief, the stains disappeared within just a few minutes.
This apron is old enough that I knew it was all-cotton, because there was no such thing as polyester back when it was made, BTW <g>. So I wasn't worried about what various bleach-type products might do to it. I believe that the older cotton crochet threads were similarly made of all cotton.
I'd hesitate to suggest this for fabrics that have real historical value, but otherwise, we should remember that old cotton ( and often, linen) fabrics were actually quite sturdy. Dishwashing detergents contain stronger bleaches than household chlorine bleaches, and are really pretty good stain removers, when used with proper precautions.
Gwen S. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
