You Never Warned Me Tomato Juice Stained

[South Texan]

I had to take a quick flight this week for a business meeting. The woman across the aisle from me on the plane that morning was wearing a very smart looking white silk slacks and blouse combo. During the flight, she ordered a Bloody Mary. I noted what she was wearing and thought that if this was a movie, it would be the cliché that the drink would spill all over her. Not fifteen seconds later, the plane hit a bump, the woman's hand went up, the tomato juice cocktail flew out of the plastic cup and in an instant was covering her blouse and slacks. I really had to control myself not to laugh at the slapstick nature of the scene.

The woman screamed and jumped out of her seat, then ran to the lavatory at the front of the plane. I could see the flight attendant handing her napkins and a can of club soda, but it was easy to deduct that there was no way this was going to end well for the white silk.

The woman was fuming. The whole plane could hear her yelling at the flight attendant that this was all the flight attendant's fault as the flight attendant should have warned her that tomato juice can stain and the plane might hit turbulence. The flight attendant said how sorry she was that this happened but (wisely) avoided pointing out that the woman already should know that tomato juice stained and that if she was going to wear white, she should be careful about what came near her. The woman continuted fuming and complaining for the rest of the flight.

When we landed, the woman - now in a wet, white outfit with pinkish orange splotches of color - was screaming at some poor customer service rep. about how she was going to sue. I wish I had had the time to hang around to see what finally happened.

[rerant]

How the fuck can a grown woman not know that tomato juice stains?
I'm the Queen of spilling food and beverages on me so much to the point that I should always be wearing a bib and even I, the person who dropped spaghetti all over herself 20 minutes before a formal Christmas party with no chance to change my clothes, would know not to order a Bloody Mary while wearing white silk on an airplane.

[Bramblerose]

Local Fiber Geek here.

red=stain. stain=not coming out this millenia. Esp if it is a spill (that's just Murphy's Law). The only time I have had red not stain is when I used beets and alum to dye wool (A&S project for SCA). It was very fugitive and is now a color I call Sick White Girl.

Her best hope is to hit a dry cleaner ASAP, like that day.

idiot.

[rerant]

The only time I have had red not stain is when I used beets and alum to dye wool

I have (thankfully) had red wine come out of white cotton. Not silk, of course, but it came out.
Granted when it spilled I ripped my shirt off, poured dish soap on it, let it sit for 30 minutes then put it in the wash.
It was like the spill never happened.

[TheSnakeLady]

If you get one of those "Shout" stain remover sticks, and you get the stain remover on the clothing ASAP, it works really well for pretty much anything. (I have a horrible time with splatters and spaghetti...) But I've yet to try it on something like silk...

[elysia]

Who wears white silk? She was probably some rich bitch, not pissed because her clothes that loaded hubby bought for her got ruined but because everyone on the plane witnessed her looking like a complete idiot. If I was a passenger and saw that I would have straight up lol'ed.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I have (thankfully) had red wine come out of white cotton. Not silk, of course, but it came out.
Granted when it spilled I ripped my shirt off, poured dish soap on it, let it sit for 30 minutes then put it in the wash.
It was like the spill never happened.

I wasn't so lucky. One time I was at a family get-together at the home of one of my cousins, deep in the woods.

We kids were screwing around when all of a sudden I heard one of my other cousins say to me "You know how red stains?" And all of a sudden, he and a couple of the other kids started pelting me with these big red berries they found.

I ran back to the house and had to take off my white t-shirt so the hosts could find a different shirt for me to wear and throw my stained one in the washing machine. Those stains never came out.

[Gawdzillers]

The plane hit a bump?
I didn't know air had potholes.

[tollbaby]

Pouring boiling water *through* cloth stained with something red (i.e. you can't be wearing it) will remove the stain. Place the cloth over a bowl and hold it fairly taut, and pour the water onto the stain (it doesn't work if the cloth is sitting in the water, only if it can go all the way THROUGH). Never failed with this Thank you, Martha Stewart!

[blackmars0]

<sarcasm>That poor woman! How could she have known that red liquid would stain white clothing?!</sarcasm>

[dithers66]

Which airline was it? You should call their customer service line and leave your name and number and a witness report in case this insane lady actually tries to pull something off.

[Bright_Star]

Anyone wearing white clothing is just asking for something stainy to fall on them. That's the main reason why I don't wear white clothing-too easy to get dirty.

[Arm]

Dunno about *silk*, but saliva will get a lot of food stains out of... well... whatever the hell it is that I wear. Cotton and cotton blend shirts, I suppose. Also, regular arm&hammer detergent, wet down just enough to make a paste, and spread onto the stain then let sit.

Plus bleach for white garments. Because you can DO that to cotton

Acid makes EVERYTHING better

Though, dry erase marker I haven't yet experimented with enough. I got some on a blue shirt that I've puzzled over for a while.

[wagegoth]

If you're trying to get food stains out, use Dawn dish soap. Great stuff. Put it on the spots, let it soak for a few minutes, then wash normally.

The Tide sticks work pretty well for small spots. I like to keep one in my purse.

Spray 'n Wash Dual Power actually got out some old, ground-in stains from shirt cuffs for me.

Era detergent is the best detergent I've found for food stains of all types. Cuts through the grease and proteins really well.

The Didi 7 spot cleaner is like concentrated OxyClean. It is also good for getting out stains, but works best if the stain is not too old.

Silk crepe or charmeuse is usually hand washable. However, if she were wearing Thai or Dupioni type silk pants, then she might as well cut them up for cat toys.

[South Texan]

Who wears white silk?

If I was a passenger and saw that I would have straight up lol'ed.

I wondered why she chose white too. With all the brushing against things that happens in airplanes, white is bound to get dirty. Ordering something red to drink on a plane while wearing white was just plain stupid.

There were several passengers on the plane who had their hands over their mouths or were looking down so as to hide that they were laughing. While she was in the lavatory, we all looked at each other and asked if we really had just seen that happen.