Stain on vintage tablecloth

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sikiguya

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At a church sale the other day I found a really cute vintage tablecloth made for a card table (has spades, hearts, etc on it and ties on the corners for the legs). Paid a whopping $.50!!

It does have 2 yellow/orange type stains on it. Not super dark but nothing that a regular stain remover will touch.

Anyone got any suggestions for me?

Oh, at this same sale I got a Penguin Ice Bucket with wood handles, a wonderful vintage German camera, and a NIB vintage alarm clock. Most expensive thing was the camera at $3, the alarm clock was only $.50!

Thanks!
 
Gain with bleach/Liquid

I use Gain with bleach liquid to pre treat stains.I pour it directly on the stain(s) and rub it in.i let it penatrate at least 15 minutes and wash in hot or warm water.It has never failed me.
 
Oxy

I am a believer!

I use Oxy on most yellowish/set-in stains...Carefully as not all vintage dyed fabrics are as colorfast as modern. Buy alot of table vintage table linens and this works 95% of the time.

My "OCD" formula is as such

Thick paste of Oxy and hot water; then add calgon to thin paste a bit.

I also LOVE Calgon - My grandmother got me addicted when I was young...
 
when they are that bad

I would try spotshot or if it is on a white background peroxide works great, but slowly, you have to keep it wet
 
table cloths

Decades ago I was a major vintage cotton/linnen table cloth colector. Not that I had to know who the designer/manufacturers were. I just admired the "gay" patterns that most of them had. Always cheerfull and very pretty.Some of the rarest ones I owned had matching napkins and placemats to boot.of all the stains that were on every one I found at thrift stores and home garage sales,the stains,sometimes stubern,aways came out. On occasion,I'd use them and they'd soil from gravy,wine,ketchup,oil and chocolate.the only product that was a sure shot was Clorox liquid bleach.I would take 1/8 C and dilute it into a measuring cup and,after a 7 minute wash,ad it slowly and reset the cycle to wash another 10 minutes. No fading or bleach spots and clean as a whistle!!
 
TRUST ME!!

Try a combination of soaking it in BIZ, and washing with OXYDOL powder detergent. This has worked wonders for me! AT LEAST try the BIZ!!!! It is amazing! I will only hang my whites out on the line if the wash water has BIZ in it!!!! 'Nough Said! (wink)
 
Thanks!!

I will try a few of these, depending on what type of products I find at the store. I only have Oxy powder right now so it's off to shop!

It's good to "see" you too Lawrence! Things here have been pretty good. We finally had the memorial serivce & burial of my Grandmother's ashes last weekend on her birthday. It was a wonderful time with family.

I'll let you all know what worked best! Thanks.
 
OK........

Since I had the Oxy powder (and I decided not to go anywhere yesterday because I was depressed that my plasma TV went out), I soaked it for a couple of hours. Not much change in the stain. I then made the paste and let it sit for a few more hours. That really did the trick. Much better now-very faint.

Although when I really started to look at the tablecloth, I realized something strange. On each corner there is a card suit. Then there are purple designs that run between them, this part would sit on the edge of the card table. There is a horseshoe, wishbone, a clover, and a swastika (????). I will get a pic and post it soon (have to go use the desktop to get the photo on here).

Anyone know anything about a swastika being good luck?? I was going to sell the tablecloth on eBay but I don't want to offend anyone.
 
Before the Nazis

perverted the Swastika, it was, indeed, a good symbol...a lucky one. It was from the Hindu tradition, but not tilted.

It is jarring to current sensibilities, however.

Might be best to hold on to it, or try to donate it to a museum (for the tax-writeoff.) Not sure the reaction you might get from eBay.

I am glad the Oxy paste worked!

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Thanks Lawrence!

I'll add a pic later this afternoon so you can see it.

I appreciate the time you took to let me know what you knew abuot it!
 
The yellow/orange stains can be tea or coffee, or old oil/grease that has been baked in by the dryer.

Try soaking in an oxidizer starting with the mildest and move to the stronger stuff.

I would start with someting like Oxy-clean, maybe peroxide, then move up to good old fashion LCB. This will work if it is an organic tea, coffee stain.

A good soak in hot water and a good degreasing detergent will help if it is an oily stain. I have had good luck with pretreating with "Goop" hand cleaner, the type mechanics use to cut the grease from their hands. Then launder as ususal, check for removal before drying as the more it is dried the more set it the stains become.
 
Lestoil?

If all else fails, you could always try Lestoil. It is 20-30% Stoddard Solvent (yikes!) according to the MSDS, and that would probably get out about anything.

Not the kind of thing I'd use everyday unless I was in the pit changing oil all day (so to speak) and needed to wash my own shirts, but it might just work.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
I have a pair of old plaid-ish trimmed tablecoths of similar dimensions. They both have stains I figured were hopeless but now I'm going to try the Oxy paste system and see what happens.

Ralph
 
White fabric

My tablecloth was white, not sure if the Oxy is OK for colored fabrics. Anyone know for sure???
 
Oxy products usually contain oxygen bleach and sometimes opt

Even though they are marketed as "colour safe", they will fade colours if used over time. The odd wash or pre-treating in them won't do any harm, but repeated use will.

Matt
 
I think if you invest a really small amount of time in channel surfing you'll likely come across Billy Mays barking out the answer to your color question, Heather.

Also interesting about the swastika thing. I did just recently see a piece of Hindu art with that image (not tilted) and knew it couldn't be a bad thing in that context but it still was weird to see it.

Ralph
 

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