We found it definitely pays to persevere when it comes to removing tough stains. We recently received a plea for help from John Ardoin in Louisiana whose daughter had borrowed her cousin’s wedding gown for her wedding. Everything went beautifully, and the dress fit Tina perfectly, but after the wedding the gown had small brown rust colored stains all over it and no one had any idea what the stains were and where they came from. The last thing John wanted to do was buy a wedding gown AFTER his daughter’s wedding!

John and daughter had no idea what the stains were or how they got there. They were not the typical wedding day hemline, perspiration, or wine spill stains. They looked a lot staples had been randomly stapled to the gown and rusted through. A local dry-cleaner tried but was unable to get the mystery stains out. Although they looked like rust, they did not respond to rust remover.

We thought the stains looked like rust as well, and tried several rust removers with little success. We then tried a number of other stain removers, all in vain. We were nearly ready to throw in the towel, but luckily didn’t give up because the tannin remover (usually used for mustard, grass stains, etc.) was the last thing we thought would work, so of course it was the last spotter we tried.

Luckily for John the tannin remover worked and he did not have to replace the wedding gown. The dress looks beautiful without a trace of the mystery stains. Hurrah!