How to Get Oil Out of Curtains

5 Aug

How to Get Oil Out of Curtains

Greasy foods and other forms of oil may leave a stain on your own drapes. Oily stains soak into fabric and place quickly, so they’re one of the toughest things to eliminate. You can eliminate grease by dissolving or consuming it. If a stain is old or severe, however, you may not be able to wash it completely.

Pre-Cleaning Assessment

Determine the type and state of your drapes before attempting stain removal. Acrylic and polyester fabrics absorb oil stains unless they have been treated with a repellant finish; wool and silk fabrics weaken in water, which may result in tearing or stretching. To prevent damage, use caution when removing stains on these fabrics. Vintage and antique drapes have likely weakened over time, so they’re also less resistant to cleaning. If the drapes are old or fragile, think about having oil stains appropriately removed. It’s simpler to eliminate fresh oil stains than older spots, so treat stains as soon as you possibly can enhance the chance of removal.

Oily Food Stains

Greasy foods, like gravy, salad dressing and cooking oil, can stain drapes. Apply a generous amount of liquid dishwashing soap on the stain. Dampen a sponge with hot water, then blot the cloth to perform the soap into the grease. If you can, launder the drapes in hot water with a mineral-based powdered laundry detergent. Alternatively, mix washing soda — sodium carbonate — with enough warm water to make a paste. Washing soda reacts with the oil and turns it into a soluble soap. Dab the stain with the paste, and rub on the cloth with warm water. This doesn’t work if the oil stain contains oxidized and turned yellowish.

Baby Oil and Machine Oil

To soak up baby oil, then blot the stain with a thick layer of cornstarch or baking soda. Allow it to set for 10 to 15 minutes, then vacuum with an upholstery attachment. Blot the fabric with a white cloth dipped in dry-cleaning solvent until the stain disappears. For machine oil, then soak the cloth with an aerosol pre-treatment stain remover. Wait for one moment, then blot the stain with warm water and a heavy-duty liquid laundry detergent. If the stain persists, wet a pile of paper towels with the dry-cleaning solvent. Press the paper towels over the stain in the rear of the drapes. Rinse with warm water.

Additional Tips and Warnings

If you can not wash a grease stain immediately and the stain has set, take the curtain dust and down the stain with baking soda or cornstarch. Put a dry cloth on an ironing board, then set the curtain on the cloth with the stained-side facing down. Iron the stained part of the fabric. The heat moves the oil in the curtain into the cloth. Vinegar gets rid of machine oil odor, thus add 1 cup of white vinegar into the machine when laundering stained items. Do not place grease-stained drapes in the clothes dryer; doing this can cause a fire. Don’t use heat to get rid of non-greasy stains. Hot water may set other types of stains, which makes them permanent. Avoid laundering oily fabrics with other garments.