You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
For greasy stains, I usually take a rag and use some Dawn dish soap with water, that cuts grease pretty well. If it's really dried on though that may not work, or if it's something like motor oil from a car then probably nothing you do is going to work super well.
Bleach splatter isn't a stain and you can't remove it. Bleach removes the color from your clothes, so the only way to fix the spot is to buy some dye or a fabric marker and try to add color back in. You can find fabric markers at craft stores, I'd get yourself a black one and see if you're able to get the color back. I've tried this with a purple shirt once, but unfortunately wasn't able to match the purple color well enough for the shirt to be wearable because there wasn't a huge variety of different shades of purple fabric markers. But with black you might have better luck getting a match so it's worth trying.
For keeping your jeans black, the best you can do is get a laundry detergent for dark colors--I know there's a Cheer for darks, and there may be other brands as well. And washing in cold water rather than hot should help too. Depending on the quality of the jeans though you may not be able to completely prevent fading.
Grease stains... BEORE WASHING with anything else...
boraxo or plain borax mixed with water to a paste then rub into the spot an let sit for a few minutes before washing.
Some of the citrus cleaners work well too.
Bleach 'stain'... ecrane is correct... it is not a stain it has already removed the dye.
Keeping black clothes black... rinse in vinegar before you ever wash them. I mean when you buy them.
Wash in cold water and use a mild detergent or soap. I prefer to use my own homemade but there are gentlle
ones on the market.
Thank you I am, going to try a few things here!
I did not know about the fabric pen. Thanks again.
I have made detergent before how do you make yours??
JuneyBug Dongducheon CpCasey South Korea (Zone 4b)
When I lived in Gemany my landlord insisted that everything be washed inside out and in cold water. It helps keek the fabric finish on and the dyes fresh. I wash my black with new blue jeans whenever I buy them, the indigo dye bleeding is useful for something...
Grate 1 bar of any of the following ... Ivory, ZOTE, Fels Naptha, Dr.Bronners, or any bar of Laundry Soap.
Mix in sauce pan and heat until dissolved (stir, stir, stir)
In 5 gal bucket add 3 gallons hot tap water, mix in above dissolved soap mixture, stir.
Add 1 Cup Washing Soda ( otther names are PHUP, Soda Ash, Sodium Carbonate)
* Just make sure the brand you pick does not have phosphates as an additive.
Stir until cooled... it will gel as it cools so stirring keeps it from becoming lumpy.
Store in old jugs.
Some people add Borax to the above mixture, but that tends to fade colors so I add it seperately to
the laundry IF needed.
For fabric softner add Vinegar to the rinse cycle instead of store bought. Better for your machine,
your clothes, and the water system.
This isn't about a greasy stain, BUT--I have had some brown stains on several shirts and they appeared ruined. I soaked them in Biz, scrubbed them with dishwasher detergent and nothing worked. I must admit some of the stains occurred when I wore them outside to check on the garden for "just a minute" and came in with a dirt spot. Others were perhaps splattered Pomegranates that I love. Anyway, they were unusable.
Then I bought some OxiClean. I got the stain very wet and rubbed the granules into the stain, left it for a couple of days and washed it. The several-year-old stains were GONE!!! It was like going shopping and buying some new clothes--almost!
JuneyBug Dongducheon CpCasey South Korea (Zone 4b)
