With Christmas parties and New Year celebrations filling up the calendar, this time of year is risky for your favourite outfits. However, many of these stains can be treated quickly and cheaply with everyday household items, as Victor Ilisco from fabric patch site Ninja Patches reveals.
“People tend to wear their nicest clothes during the holidays — often delicate fabrics or pieces saved for special occasions, which makes stains feel even more frustrating. But with the right approach, most festive stains can be lifted without professional cleaning, and in many cases with items you already have in your kitchen. Here are my methods for the stains that show up most in December.”
Red wine: use salt and boiling water
Red wine is probably one of the biggest stain culprits year-round. And if you’ve never dropped a splash of red on a white carpet or a new shirt, consider yourself very lucky. But if you happen to drop a bit on yourself during end-of-year parties, don’t worry; fresh wine stains are far easier to deal with than they look, as long as you treat them quickly. “Salt acts quickly, lifting the colour almost as soon as it touches the fabric. Once the stain is covered, leave the salt on for five to 10 minutes so it can pull up as much pigment as possible, then brush away. If you’re not at home, that’s fine — the final step can wait. When you do get back, slowly pour boiling water over the area to flush out what’s left. It might feel counterintuitive, but the salt-and-hot-water combo often saves outfits people assume are ruined.”
Gravy and oily stains: use washing-up liquid
If red wine is the party-time menace, gravy is its Christmas dinner equivalent. One wrong move with the roast potatoes and you’ve baptised your outfit in fat and stock. “Oily stains love to cling, so you need something that cuts through grease — and washing-up liquid does exactly that. Gently massage a small amount into the stain and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing. And if you’re out and can’t treat it straight away, blot the area and save the washing-up liquid step for when you get home — it still works.”
Cranberry sauce and fruit stains: use lemon juice
Cranberry sauce is delicious, but it behaves like it has a personal vendetta against clothing. One blob and the deep red colour spreads faster than you can say, ‘Where’s the napkin?’ “Cranberry is a tannin stain, so it needs something that breaks down those natural pigments. Lemon juice is perfect because it’s a mild natural bleach. But if you’re away from home, simply blot the mark and leave the rest until later — lemon juice still works perfectly well once you’re back. Leave it on for about ten minutes, then rinse. For white fabrics, a short time in gentle sunlight can help brighten the area. Just don’t overdo it: you’re aiming for brightening, not bleaching.”
Make-up: use shaving foam
You know it’s party season when half the collars in the room end up wearing more foundation than the faces that applied it. Winter coats, silk shirts, dress straps — nothing is safe. Because foundation is full of oils and waxes, it sticks to clothes the moment it touches them. But a quick layer of shaving foam can break it all up and make the stain much easier to lift, regardless of whether you’re at home or need to fix the mark later. “The trick is to work the foam in lightly and give it a moment to do its job — around five minutes — before rinsing off. Stylists use this trick all the time: a bit of shaving foam, a gentle rub and suddenly the collar looks brand new again.”
Chocolate: use baking soda and cold water
You can tell it’s December when every flat surface suddenly has a bowl of chocolates on it. Lovely for snacking… less lovely when one of them mysteriously migrates onto your clothes. If that happens, don’t panic. Just get to some cold water as soon as you can. “Chocolate stains are sneaky because they’re protein-based, and if you hit them with hot water, you essentially cook the stain into the fabric. Cold water is what loosens it. After rinsing, apply a baking-soda paste and leave for roughly 20 minutes so it can pull the stain out of the fibres. A light scrub after that usually lifts it clean off. And if you’re away from home and don’t have baking soda available, just rinse the stain with cold water and deal with it later, as the baking soda trick will still work perfectly well.”
