Need Help!! Brown bleach stains on white cotton
 

OK - so I was in a huge hurry on Thanksgiving morning. I have a 100% cotton Vintage Quaker Lace White House table cloth that had a spot on it. I thought that I would "hurry up" and throw a dab of bleach on it and be done with it.

Well . . . That was my big mistake - the bleach bottle dumped more bleach out than I really intended and then proceeded to turn the table cloth a dark tan/brown. I now have a stain larger than my hand that is yellow (I have soaked the tablecloth for two days in Oxyclean).

Is there anyone else who has done something like this recovered from it??

I don't know if it would help with your stain, but what I use as a spot remover is homemade laundry soap. The Fels-Naphtha soap alone is what my mom used to remove car grease and keep Dad's white mechanic uniforms white. The washing soda and Borax are natural color safe bleach products. It would be worth a try.

You might try this product: Restoration Fabric Restorer, it looks and sounds similar to another product I saw at my LQS, or apparently Mary Beth (of Best Press) has a Best Wash product (I have seen that at my LQS).

Good luck. Hope something works.

Are you sure it was a 100% cotton fabric?

Some polyesters will turn yellow when bleached.

I had forgotten about those! Thanks

bearisgray - I do believe it is. It is a 1950-ish tablecloth. I think that they were all 100% cotton until after they were sold in the 70's. But I could be wrong - LOL.

I have never seen these products. Went to the Mary Ellen site and "contacted" them and asked about their wash with all the sad details - will let you all know what they said. The Restoration Fabric Restorer looks interesting as well. I will do a little Homework on that today. The only other products I could find that I knew might do the job was the Rit Color Remover and Synthrapol . As I do not wish to do more damage, I will be a little more careful this time.

All the suggestions are excellent - Thanks all for your input.

I wonder if you could call the bleach company and ask them what they could suggest. Good Luck

That is a great idea! Thanks.

I hate to say it but I think that anything that happens with chlorine bleach is pretty well permanent. Can you dye the tablecloth another color to cover up the stain?