Laundry Tips! Frosting and Food Coloring Stains
Valentine’s Day is coming up, which means heart-shaped cookies with pink and red frosting abound!
Tasty as those cookies are, their frosting can be a real nightmare if you get it on your clothes. Thankfully, we’ve got a clothes cleaning tip that can tackle these tricky food coloring spots.
Let’s get to the clothes cleaning tip!
What You’ll Need
– Spoon
– Gloves
– White Terrycloth Towel
– Large Bowl
– White Vinegar
– Colorless Dish Soap (Liquid)
– Liquid Dish Detergent
– Ammonia
Let’s Get Cleaning Clean
Step 1: First, use a spoon to scrape the frosting off the article of clothing, working inwards towards the center of the spot so you don’t spread the frosting around. Be sure to also wipe the spoon off between scrapes.
Step 2: Dampen the white towel and blot at the spot. Your goal is to blot up as much of the dye in the article as you can.
Put your hand or another towel behind the spot inside the article of the clothing. This will keep the dye from spreading as you blot. Likewise, regularly switch to different parts of the towel and rinse it out as you clean. Otherwise, you’ll smear more dye around and make the clothes cleaning that much harder.
Step 3: Once no more of the dye comes up, mix 1 Tsp. of the colorless dish soap, 1 Tbsp. of white vinegar, and 1 cup of cool water in the large bowl.
Once mixed, submerse the stained part of the article in the solution. You may need to use a weight to keep that area submerged. Let the article sit for 15 minutes.
Step 4: Take the article and run cold water from a faucet through the back of the stain. Do this for the surrounding area as well – especially if it was soaked in Step 3 – but focus on the stained area. The goal here is to flush out the remaining dye.
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At this point in the clothes cleaning process, the stain is hopefully gone. If it is, proceed to launder the article as you normally would.
If the stain is still there, go to Step 5.
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Step 5: Without letting the article dry, mix 1Tbsp. of household ammonia*, 1 quart of warm water, and 1 Tsp. of liquid dish detergent in a large bowl. If you’re using the same bowl as before, make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned.
Once mixed, submerse the stained part of the article in the solution. You may need to use a weight to keep that area submerged. Let the article sit for 15 minutes so the solution can really clean the clothes.
Step 6: Wearing gloves, gently rub the spot, working from the backside of the stain instead of the front. Again, we’re just drying to loosen the dyes.
Step 7: Like before, take the article and run warm water from a faucet through the back of the stain. Do this for the surrounding area as well – especially if it was soaked in Step 5 – but focus on the stained area. The goal here is to flush out the remaining dye.
Step 8: Launder the article of clothing right away.
And there you go – hopefully this clothes cleaning guide has made the frosting stain disappear!
Thanks to Katie Berry with Housewife How-Tos for the great clothes cleaning tips. Be sure to check out their guide here.
*Always take care when using stronger solutions and follow any safety instructions on the bottle. You should also test to make sure the solution won’t cause the article of clothing to lose its color.
