Yes you can! I cringe when I think of all the baby clothing that got thrown away because I forgot they had gotten spit-up on them and they got thrown into the laundry, only to be discovered later with the evil peppered stains of mildew.
But when I pulled out this favorite (favorite of mine, that is) shirt of my son’s the other day and it was badly scarred with stains across the front and nearly the entire right sleeve was blackened like it had been dipped in old engine oil, I felt like shedding a tear as I nearly sent it to its final resting place in the trash can.
“But wait! – Surely there MUST some magic mix on the internet??”
Actually, I figured the shirt was ruined anyway, so I combined all the ingredients I found listed as claimed mildew remover and this is what I did: I soaked this shirt in a sink of hot water with a little bit of bleach, a little bit of laundry detergent, and a lot of borax. I put on some gloves and scrubbed and rubbed the fabric on all the icky spots for a few minutes and then I walked away. I came back a few minutes later to find all the smaller peppery spots gone and all the bigger peppery spots half-faded. In a little while, all the peppery spots were gone but the large black stain took longer. I soaked it as long as I dared (at least an hour) before I gave up with only the tiniest light brown stain under the armpit. I’m pretty sure I can live with that!. 😀
I wish I had thought to take a ‘before’ pic. I don’t think the
color faded much, either. It was already a pale, creamy yellow.
So the worst stains may be more difficult but for the run-of-the-mill mildew stain – I give this FIVE stars!! Yay for bleach and soap and borax!
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this is the shirt that he wore to church today and I can vouch for the “spotlessness” of the shirt! the Mom
Ahhh… you left the most important ingredient out of your final cheer! Your faithful SCRUBBING & watchful eye to “destain” your son’s shirt without ruining its color, well, THAT is the best part of the entire solution. We can say all we want for fancy gifts and special memories, but sticking your hands in borax + soap + bleach for a shirt is a true act of love.
I wore gloves! 🙂
wow, what a great tip. I have thrown out many items because of this pesky mildew!! Thanks so much for posting this.
Bridget
Thanks for the info…. we have an issue with mildew on our boat… I wonder what the borax would do to the seats there??? I have bleached them, so the germs are not there… just the stains. I named the boat freckles this summer, but would much rather call her snow white!
How great! Good to know!