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1 ) Run SCALDING HOT water over the mildew on the fabric. If the water from your tap comes out steaming (hot enough to cause a burn) that is hot enough. If not, boil the kettle and use that! We did this at my mom’s house, where the water is literally hot enough to burn you, so we didn’t need to use the kettle.
2) Use a toothbrush to gently apply bleach directly to the mildew spots (colorfast bleach if you are doing this on a colored item! When you’re using bleach, obviously you should always test a small inconspicuous area on your item first. Bleach will totally take the color out of some things). You can very gently rub at the spots, or even rub the material together. (Especially if it’s a delicate material.) If your mildew is on something brightly colored, maybe try these tips for removing mildew before you try bleach!
(I didn’t bother to spot test this one, since the design is printed on – not woven in – so that means bleach will generally not hurt is. Plus, I figure that whatever is mildew-y is ruined anyhow if I can’t the mildew out, so I wasn’t AS worried about the bleach taking the color out of the blanket since I wasn’t either going to fix it or throw it away anyhow.)
3) You will be able to SEE the mildew disappearing. If you can’t SEE it disappearing, add more bleach.
4) Hand-wash the spot with laundry detergent and hot water. This is very important because the soap stops the action of the bleach… if you skip this and just rinse, the bleach will destroy your clothes/ blanket etc. (Depending on the type of fabric you’re treating, remember to be careful with the bleach!)
5) Rinse with more HOT water! YAY! No more mildew!
Do you have any more great tips for removing mildew from fabric?
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