Uh-oh...LindaC and all I REALLY need

18 years ago

your help!!! DH (bless his sweet heart) brought me a huge bouquet of mixed flowers. They were absolutely gorgeous and just lit up the entire house! In the bouquet were yellow and stargazer lillies. I put them in a silver ice bucket, on an antique ecru cutwork runner, in the middle of the dining table.

A few days have passed, and the lillies are past their prime. This morning I was cleaning up the dropped petals and I discovered that the stamen(s)(?) had also dropped, and had left pollen all over my runner.....dark rust and bright gold pollen!!!!!

I ran a gentle vacuum brush over it, but it didn't help too much. I am absolutely terrified to try to get the stain out, so I left it right on the table 'till I talked to you folks. When I tried to wash my hands after picking up the petals and such, the stain would not wash off! I resorted to using bleach on my hands, but I would be afraid to use it on antique linen.

What do you think??? Dry clean?wash?no hope?what to wash with?

Most SINCERE thanks for any assistance!!

Jaybird

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Comments (4)

lindac
18 years ago
Been there.....done that.....never really got the stain out....now I monitor lilies very carefully and remove the anthers ( where the pollen is) as soon as the flower starts to open.
No clorox on antique linen.....but I would put it in a basin or tub or something with a good stiff solution of an oxygen bleach.....and an enzyme cleaner....like biz....for the oxy bleach oxy clean, snowy or any of the others that don't contain anything but an oxygen bleach....
Then let it soak for days and days if necessary....keep the stained part on top so you can see it without having to lift the whole thing out of the water.....
When it's as gone as it's going to get, lift the cloth out carefully, supporting from the bottom and rinse in a sink with running water. Handle it gently....it's been soaking a long time and the fibers are wet and weak. let the water run and press on it with your hands.....when it's rinsed, squeeze ( don't wring!) and press excess water out in a towel or 2 or 3....carefully lay flat to dry.
If that doesn't do it try stretching the stain ( with the cloth dry) over a bowl, sprinkling with fresh lemon juice, sprinkle salt over that and pour boiling water from a height through the cloth.
Don't get your hopes up.....pollen is about the worst! I got some in my fancy German car, lily tipped and stained the carpet! 9 years later, when I sold it, the buyer asked about it....lily pollen I said! LOL! he didn't believe me!
Good luck....after the soak, your cloth won't be as "ecru" as it was....but at least it will be all the same....but for the stain.
Let us know the outcome.
Linda C
jaybird
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you soooo much, I will start working on it this evening! The runner will still be beautiful even with slight stains....I'll just use a bigger vase next time and I will be SURE to monitor the lillies!!!!
Again my thanks!
J
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jaybird
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi there,
Just wanted to let you know that the soaking in the oxyclean stuff worked like a charm!! I only soaked it overnight, and it was gone. I also threw a couple of linen hand towels in that had age/storage stains, and they came out like new!!
You are a blessing!!
Jaybird
lindac
18 years ago
Great! Glad it worked!!!
Score another for Oxyclean!
Linda C

Uh-oh...LindaC and all I REALLY need

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