One of the daughter-units took it upon herself to lube-and-grease her bicycle. I applaud her self-starter can-do attitude and follow-through. The bike looks marvelous and rides like new.
Unfortunately, a favorite sweatshirt took a direct hit from tire-and-road grime. I'm not even sure how she got it tagged but there is clearly a large scuff dead-center in her hood. The sweatshirt is 100% cotton, white, and fleece-like in texture. I've hit it with my three spot removing cleaners already; Zout, Spot it, and Shout. None of the three even dented the black hole.
I'm looking for other ideas without damaging the fabric's integrity.
You didn't say exactly what the stain consists of but assuming it's bearing grease it is probably soluble in a number of solvents. I would first try paint thinner or naphtha and only use more powerful solvents if necessary. Dampen a Q-tip in some of the solvent and blot out excess solvent (damp, not wet). Try applying it someplace where it isn't noticeable just in case it causes the color to run. If it appears to not damage the fabric then take a paper towel and seperate the layers so you have a 1-ply sheet. Get a vacuum cleaner with a hose and cover the hose with screen or whatever to keep the fabric from being sucked in. Place the fabric (right-side-up) over the screen with the paper towel between the screen and fabric. Turn it on. Gradually apply the solvent, moving the paper towel as it becomes full of the grease. Do not allow the fabric to become too saturated or a stain ring will result. Feather the edges of the solvent to prevent rings. The idea here is to suck the grease from the sweatshirt into the paper towel.
Oxiclean. It will take out most anything. You'd want to try a bit on part of the shirt to make sure it won't damage it. I took walnut stain off a jacket by washing it in the washer with oxiclean, unbelievable stuff!
Uh, I don't think it's really wise to suck solvent vapors into a vacuum cleaner where they may pass through the motor's cooling path which likely includes a sparking commutator.
You could qualify for a Darwin Award that way.
Even though you may have done it several times without ill effect, thet's no guarantee that the next guy who tries it, with a different vacuum cleaner, won't get into trouble.
Well, I've actually done it hundreds of times. The concentration of flammable solvent to air ratio is so low I don't think it could be ignited. And even if it did, it would probably turn the vacuum motor into a jet engine briefly giving it a little more power. And if it did somehow explode at least the stain would be gone.
:One of the daughter-units took it upon herself to lube-and-grease her :bicycle. I applaud her self-starter can-do attitude and follow-through. The :bike looks marvelous and rides like new. : :Unfortunately, a favorite sweatshirt took a direct hit from tire-and-road :grime. I'm not even sure how she got it tagged but there is clearly a large :scuff dead-center in her hood. The sweatshirt is 100% cotton, white, and :fleece-like in texture. I've hit it with my three spot removing cleaners :already; Zout, Spot it, and Shout. None of the three even dented the black :hole. : :I'm looking for other ideas without damaging the fabric's integrity. : :Many thanks! : :The Ranger
The three I'd try are
Goop - dab, let sit a while and wash
Dawn - dab, let sit a while and wash
Oxiclean, soak 6+ hours and wash
The idea posted using naptha or paint thinner and a vacuum is intriguing, certainly.
"We" used Goop, let it set for 20 minutes, scrubbed and wrung it, then finished off with liquid Ivory.
Three things I appreciate being warned about:
1) Watching for the stain ring. Thanks. It would have never occured to me about that but forewarned, was forearmed.
2) Reminded to use Goop. I have a gallon contain of the stuff and never remember that it's good for all petrolium product removal. But being out in the garage, it's often "out of sight & mind."
3) Using my shop-vac to withdraw the stain forward through the fabric and not pushing it deeper and behind it.
For the one that said to leave it be as a reminder to future incidents lesson; can't do that. But the other poster that suggested her removing the spot was correct. I don't mind doing basic laundry but when things like this happen, it's best to allow the teenangster their opportunity to learn. It was a multi-hour lesson on why you don't wear whites while working with greasy dirt, and then another lesson on "hiding" the item in the hamper once you notice the scuff. :)
Spot is gone, there's not any Goop aftersmell, and she was able to remove all the Ivory after a couple hours.
I even appreciated the suggestion about using petrolium products that create fumes around electrical devices. I'd rather not be portrayed in a future WB cartoon, thankyouverymuch.
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