How To

How to Remove Rust from Fabric

By eHow Fashion, Style & Personal Care Editor
Remove rust with some lemon juice
Remove rust with some lemon juice
Rate: (201 Ratings)

Rust stains in your favorite fabric? Hold on—you don’t have to throw that favorite shirt away! You’d be surprised at what the help of a little lemon could do; just follow these simple steps to rescue your otherwise-doomed rags.

Difficulty: Easy
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Lemon Juices
  • Paper towels
  • Tide or Cheer brand Laundry Detergents
  1. Step 1

    Lay the rust-stained fabric over several white paper towels, which will act as a blotter and absorb the rust.

  2. Step 2

    Cut a lemon in half and saturate the stain with the fresh lemon juice. (Bottled lemon juice will work, too.)

  3. Step 3

    Set the fabric (with the paper towel blotter beneath) out in the sun to dry. The rust stain will disappear.

  4. Step 4

    Launder as usual.

Tips & Warnings
  • Test this method first on a small, inconspicuous area when removing rust from colored fabrics.

Comments  

| View All 14 Comments

susan6k3 said

Flag This Comment

on 11/15/2007 Karen - thank you! i had Barkeepers Friend in the house so I tried it on a favorite white designer blouse that i dry clean because it has delicate embroidery. I made a paste with the cleanser & water & rubbed the paste gently into the stain, put a paper towel underneath. In a few hours the rust stain was completely gone, I just rinsed the spot with water & let dry.

nelles9 said

Flag This Comment

on 10/24/2007 600 ml boiling water and 4 t. cream of tartar on fabric that can be washed in hot water, works very well.

dorothyoz said

Flag This Comment

on 3/18/2007 I tried the lemon juice method on a couple different rust stains and it didn't work for me. I found a rust remover online (TheRustStore.com) called Magica that takes rust off just about anything.

dorothyoz said

Flag This Comment

on 3/18/2007 I tried the lemon juice method on a couple different rust stains and it didn't work for me. I found a rust remover online (TheRustStore.com) called Magica that takes rust off just about anything. I'd give that a shot.

snayl said

Flag This Comment

on 10/10/2006 I had a towel that had held rust stains for several years that I tried to remove with Shout, bleach, the usual suspects, but nothing worked. I couldn't believe it when I first tried the lemon juice-in-the-sun-technique: they had disappeared in a few hours. It really does work.

Post a Comment

Post a Comment

Have you done this? Click here to let us know.

I Did This

Related Ads

Copyright © 1999-2009 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

eHow Fashion, Style and Personal Care
eHow_eHow Fashion, Style and Personal Care