Linens not only help provide charm to an event or party, but they also help cut the risk of tables and chairs being damaged or stained during the event. The cost of replacing this furniture can easily cut into your pockets whether you are a professional event decorator or someone who likes to have parties.
You’ve found the solution to keep your furniture long lasting, but what about the actual linens themselves?
We all know accidents can happen during events, whether that glass of expensive red wine accidentally topples over or a guest accidentally gets food on the linen.
Anything can happen but the good news is, there are many ways to keep your linens clean and long lasting for future events to come. No need to worry about replacing expensive linens you invested for yourself or your event decorating company.
These tips below will help you save your linens from even the toughest stains and make your linens go back to being spotless!
If possible, clean stains immediately after the accident occurs
The faster you act, the easier it will make cleaning your stain further. Gently blot the stained area from the outside to in, being careful not to spread the stain by rubbing it in. This will help later stain removal treatments work a lot easier.
Pretreat the stains before washing
Scrape off hardened food debris with a dull knife before treating. A butter knife will work well in this case. Then, carefully examine your linen for the rest of the stains.
Once all have been identified, you can apply your solution of choice:
Enzyme Based Pretreatment Product
Petroleum-Based Pretreatment Product
Undiluted Detergent
Spray or dab the solution of choice directly onto the stain and work the solution into the fabric by rubbing it together. This will help the fabric absorb the solution.
Let the fabric sit with the pretreatment solution for about 15 minutes before proceeding with the next step.
Now that you have allowed your pretreatment solution to work on the stain, it is time to wash the linens.
Fill your washer with warm water and the alkaline, enzyme, or heavy duty detergent of your choice. Then, soak your linens for up to eight hours in the warm water mixture before washing.
After washing, ensure your stains have been removed. If not, repeat the process as needed before drying.
Grease Stains
For tough grease stains, you can use a grease-busting dish detergent. Remove hardened food debris first before working the detergent into the stained fabric. Let the detergent sit for 15 minutes before washing as recommended. Repeat as necessary before drying. If the stain is fresh, you can use baking soda, talcum powder, or cornstarch to soak up the stain. Brush off the powder and repeat as necessary.
Wax Drips
Wax drips happen especially when you frequently use real candles for your events. Luckily, there are two ways you can get rid of wax drips.
Just like with hardened food debris, you can use a dull knife or a spoon to lift it right off.
If it is a stubborn wax drip, you can remove it using an iron and a brown paper bag. The iron is used to reheat the wax and the brown paper bag is used to absorb the wax as it melts. Place the brown paper bag on top of the wax drip and iron directly onto the brown paper bag, being careful to readjust the brown paper bag as it becomes saturated with wax. When done, clean the stain using one of the methods listed earlier.
Red Wine Stain
If you catch the red wine spill as it happens, table salt is your best friend and is something typically handy at events. As soon as the wine has spilled, pour a mound of table salt on the wine spill. It will act as a desiccant on the wine spill, soaking and pulling it away from the tablecloth. Then, gently brush the salt away before treating.
What if you aren’t around when the red wine spill happens? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered too! In this case, the best way is to soak the wine-stained linen overnight with a stain-eliminating solution like OxiClean or a powdered dishwasher detergent before washing as normal.
Now that you know how to remove tough stains from your linens, saving you lots of money in replacing them, here are a few pro tips to keep in mind!
Make sure you read all your stain removing solution instructions carefully especially if your linens are colored or have embellishments. Oxygen Bleach is safe for colors.
Softener Sheets add residues to the linens that can help keep the fabric from absorbing spills.
1-2 teaspoons of baking soda during a wash cycle can help with grease stains
Always dry your linens in low setting as high heat can help stains set in and harder to remove.