by Serena Smith
How did that stain appear? It just happens. One moment your project is clean
and stain free. All of a sudden, a drop of blood, ink or oil appears. What
can you do to take out your unwanted stains? Try some of the following
solutions.
505 Spray Adhesive - 505 is a wonderful spray adhesive to use when
sticking my fabric to my stabilizer when I am stitching machine embroidery
designs. But occasionally some of the adhesive gets sprayed on the fabric.
Sometime it is caused by some residue left over from spraying too much on
the stabilizer in the hoop.
Use 90% rubbing alcohol (not the drinking kind :)) to get 505 out of your
fabric or project. The 90% is important; not all stores stock that
percentage. The lower percentage bottles will not be as effective as the
90%. Look for this in the pharmacy departments of most stores. If you still
cannot get the stain out with the alcohol, try using
Ecover Citrus Cleaner & Degreaser.
It's an oil based cleaner that can be found in many stores or
online.
To prevent this, always spray your stabilizer, not your fabric with 505.
Avoid spraying too much 505 on the hooped stabilizer before sticking the
fabric on top of it.
Blood - Yes, I try to keep my fingers away from sharp objects, but
invariably a pin, needle, pair of scissors or rotary cutter finds its way
through to my skin, drawing either a drop or a bucket of blood. When I can't
get my project out of the way in time, a red spot appears.
Treat the stain right away with hydrogen peroxide. Use a cotton ball or
clean cloth to blot the stain with the peroxide. This will easily take out
the blood. Rinse in cold water and treat again if needed. Another option is
our own saliva. Your own saliva has enzymes that will treat your own blood
stains. I know it's not the most appealing thing, but it does work!
What's the preventative action to take for this kind of stain? Just keep
your fingers away from sharp objects! :)
Ink pen or machine oil - Ink pens are all around my sewing room and
as hard as I try to keep them contained to one table, they tend to walk
toward my fabric. Machine oil will sometime get on my fabric after I have
first oiled my machine.
Any oil based cleaner in your laundry cabinet will take out most ink and oil
stains. I like to use
Ecover Citrus Cleaner & Degreaser
or
De-Solv-It;
they both work very well with ink and oil stains. I will get the stain out
of the fabric with the cleaner and then wash it with some soap and water to
be sure I have removed all the remaining residue. There could be a slight
ring or shadow created if not all the cleaner is rinsed out. You can find
both these products in many stores.
Try to keep ink pens away from your fabric and projects. Throw away any pens
that leak or leave blobs of ink. To keep oil stains to a minimum, sew a
scrap of fabric through your machine after oiling it. Keep sewing until oil
doesn't appear on your fabric. If your machine will sit unused for several
hours or a couple of days, you may need to stitch on a fabric scrap before
sewing on your project.
