Silk is a delicate fabric that can cause you to be super cautious to avoid stains.
It is considered relatively complex to remove stains from silk, making it even more difficult to remove red wine stains!
Fortunately, it is not impossible to remove red wine stains from silk.
We have done some research and learned that it’s definitely possible with some everyday household items and a little elbow grease.
Continue reading down below to learn how to remove red wine stains from silk.
What You’ll Need
Now that you’ve assembled everything keep reading below for step-by-step instructions on how to remove red wine stains from silk.
1. Put Water In Bowl
Get a bowl and make sure that it is large enough that both the stained silk time and the red wine stain itself will fit inside.
Fill the bowl with lukewarm water high enough that it would be able to saturate the entire red wine stain on the silk item.
2. Add Laundry Detergent To Bowl
Add around ⅓ cup of laundry detergent to the bowl.
Use more or less depending upon the size of the red wine stain and the size of the silk item that is stained.
Ensure that the laundry detergent you use is safe to use on delicate fabrics, such as silk.
A good option is Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent.
If you use powdered laundry detergent, be sure to stir the water and laundry detergent well so that the powdered detergent fully dissolves.
3. Place Silk Item In Bowl
Take your red wine-stained silk item and place it in the bowl that had laundry detergent in it.
Be sure to thoroughly soak the silk item so that the red wine stain is fully submerged.
4. Soak Your Silk Item
Allow the stained silk item to sit in the bowl for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
If the red wine stain is particularly dark or large, feel free to let the silk item sit for a bit longer so that the solution can fully penetrate the stain.
5. Rinse Your Silk Item In Cold Water
Once you have let the silk item soak in the bowl with laundry detergent and lukewarm water, begin to rinse the silk item.
Be sure that you are using cold water to avoid creating suds.
Also, be sure that you rinse the silk item very well to remove all the laundry detergent from the silk item.
6. Allow The Silk Item To Dry
After the silk item has been thoroughly rinsed and there is not any laundry detergent residue, let the silk time dry.
Lay the silk item down on a towel to absorb some water and allow it to air dry.
7. Make Another Cleaning Solution (If Necessary)
If there is still a red wine stain on the silk item, you can continue to work on the red wine stain to remove it entirely.
First, you will create a cleaning solution containing more laundry detergent, water, and white vinegar.
I love to use this Lucy’s Family Owned – Natural Distilled White Vinegar.
I found it on Amazon, and it gets excellent reviews.
Mix these in a small bowl.
8. Blot Red Wine Stain With Sponge
Using a sponge, absorb the new cleaning solution and squeeze it to remove the excess cleaning solution.
You want the sponge to be damp but not soaking wet.
Take the sponge and blot the red wine stain with the sponge.
You do not want to saturate the red wine stain or the silk item so that the silk item will dry faster.
9. Rinse Silk Item With Cold Water
Finally, rinse out the silk item with cold water.
Be sure to again entirely remove any laundry detergent and vinegar residue from the silk item.
10. Allow Silk Item To Dry
Again, place the silk item on a towel to allow it to dry.
The white vinegar from the cleaning solution should help the silk item dry much quicker.
If you are a better visual learner, check out the video below on removing stains from silk.
Video Instructions
- Step 1 (:18) — Put water in a bowl
- Step 2 (:36) — Add laundry detergent to bowl
- Step 3 (:54) — Place silk in bowl
- Step 4 (1:01) — Soak silk
- Step 5 (1:13) — Rinse silk with cold water
- Step 6 (1:24) — Allow to dry
- Step 7 (1:37) — Make solution
- Step 8 (1:48) — Blot area with damp sponge
- Step 9 (2:05) — Rinse with cold water
FAQ
What Cleaning Solutions Can I Use On Silk?
You can use mild cleaning agents on silk, such as mild shampoo, laundry detergents for delicates, dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and rubbing alcohol.
These will be gentle enough and are not too alkaline on the acidic silk material.
What Cleaning Solutions Should I Not Use On Silk?
When cleaning silk items, you will want to avoid most commercial detergents unless they are specifically for silk or delicates.
In addition, avoid commercial stain cleaners.
Alkaline solutions, such as borax, washing soda, and ammonia may harm the acidic wool and should be avoided as well.
Does White Wine Remove Red Wine Stains?
While many people may say to clean red wine stains with white wine, that is not necessarily the best course of action.
When white wine is added to red wine stains, it dilutes the stain more than removes it.
In addition, this only can be slightly helpful when the red wine stain is wet and still fresh.
Again, it does not remove the stain but instead dilutes it and adds a white wine stain on top of the red wine stain on your item.
Can I Use Salt To Remove Red Wine Stains?
Salt is often used as a homemade way method to remove stains.
The salt should absorb the color from the stain.
Salt can be used on silk to remove red wine stains, but not by adding plain salt onto the stain.
Create a mixture of salt and cold water, and then gently dab the stain.
Because silk is a delicate fabric and salt is very abrasive, I would not recommend you use salt to remove red wine stains.
