Drop of Blood on a Linen-Silk Slipcover

[Johnny]

Good customer whom I will clean carpets for in the morning wants me to clean a drop of blood from the seamstress off of a 74% linen, 26% silk slipcover. She has a swatch I can experiment on and I could get a drop of blood from my helper (lol). How would you do it?

Thanks,

John

 

[Able 1]

I heard if you kick someone in the balls hard enough there nose bleeds.. try that.

Oh, please report back this could be like myth busters!

 

[Jay D]

A knife works good. :roll:

 

[ronald pantelas]

Couple of things for you to know. Silk is a natural filament fiber. Silk is very sensitive to alkali and tends to yellow when exposed to alkaline detergents. Dye loss,yellowing and ringing are common problems when cleaning silk. Silk is normally dry cleaned. There is also washable silk, they put a resin treatment to prevent fiber degradation. Linen fabrics are stronger then cotton(Mr. Don Terry). You would need a protein solvent or enzyme product to attempt this, dwell then remove. Call Jim Pemberton, or your supply house. Ron

 

[Jose Smith]

If you get to it quickly enough, than just using an alkaline spotter/protein spotter should work fine.

I would strongly advise talking to the owner about having a fabric protector applied. Tell them that this is a very sensitive fabric and spotting will be much easier for everyone involved (including you) if something happens in the future if it is protected.

Jose Smith

 

[Jimmy L]

Isn't using an acid on silk a no no?

 

[Desk Jockey]

I would use BP's Avenge, it is a neutral spotter, and works well on blood.

Try it on your test fabric and see if there are any negative results.

Do not pour it on directly on the fabric but pour it on the towel.

Blot it gently so as not to abrade the fabric. Nothing is worse than removing the spot, but roughing the area up so bad it's damaged.

It might take a couple of times to completely remove it, but it's better to spot it twice lightly than once, and cause a problem.

 

[Jimmy L]

Q-Tips work great!

 

[Johnny]

Thanks, yall. I'll apply Avenge with a q-tip after testing on the swatch. Will use a DriMaster and blower or hair dryer if neccessary.

 

[Scott S.]

i wonder what jim pemberton would say?

 

[Johnny]

Tested Avenge on the swatch with no adverse effect. Slip cover is at another location, and my customer is confident in trying to clean it herself with the Avenge I left her.

I need to get some more Avenge. Good stuff. Wish I had a local BP distributor.

Thanks again for all the help.