Fancy That Friday – Say Bye-Bye To Berry Stains

Two years ago, we took a trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit Alexander’s brother. One of the top priorities on our things to do agenda? Why, pick fresh berries, of course! Fresh berries aren’t something that they “do” so much in Utah, which is where we lived at the time. So we intended to pick until our little fingers feel off and then cart back a mountainload of juicy berries in our car to the Wasatch Front.

And our plan worked. We picked our little hearts out and then picked some more. Elijah, only 15 months at the time, even helped. He’d pick a few, eat most of them and drop a few in our bucket. Ever read Blueberries For Sal? You get the idea then (minus the family of bears). He was loving it!!

But afterwards, as we headed out of the fields to pay for our berries, Lij looked something like this:

And actually, that photo was taken after initial clean-up efforts had commenced. He actually looked even worse cuter than that.

As Alexander was paying for our berries, I was lamenting the loss of what had been one of my favorite Lij shirts. The cashier smiled and asked: “Because of berry stains?” Of course because of berry stains. The first thing you learn in on-your-own-no-mama’s-gonna-do-your-wash-now boot camp is that some stains just don’t come out. Berry stains are among them. “Yes,” I replied. Then the berry cashier passed on perhaps some of the best wisdom that has ever been imparted to me. And I, in turn, now share it with you:

Berry stains can come out!

The key to this is to act while the juice is still fresh. Though this technique will help diminish a dried-on berry stain, it won’t totally get rid of the stain unless it’s fresh. So act quickly.

Take the berry stained article of clothing to a sink. Turn on the hot water and let it get REALLY hot (child-safe water heaters will still allow water to get hot enough). Hold the garment under the water so that the water passes into the unstained side of the garment and out the stained side. (If the warter is too hot for you to hold the clothes, the berry cashier said you can also use something like a colander to stretch the garment over). After a few minutes (or less), your stain should be completely going – no (or just very mild – as hard would set the stain) rubbing required.

Note: It’s important to hold the stained side down (so the hot water doesn’t drive the stain into the fabric, but pushes it out instead) and to make sure that no unstained part of the garment is between the stained part and the bottom of the sink (so you don’t transfer the stain to another part of the clothing).

Although Elijah’s shirt remains mildly stained (since we weren’t able to get to a sink until the berry juice had already dried), I do have proof positive that this works. Over Christmas, a fresh blueberry and cranberry pie was made. Such a pie must be consumed. And Dylan, not one to miss out on the consumption of food, wanted to participate. So I sat him down fully clothed, and bibbed, to enjoy a piece of berry pie. All the female relatives looked at me as if I was crazy. He got several stains on his onesie and my mother in law volunteered to go get her arsenal of cleaning products. I took the onesie off Dylan and headed for the sink. Before my MIL was back with the stain stick, Dylan’s onesie was already berry-free (thanks to the above method). He even wore the same onesie to church last week.

Needless to say, I now have some very impressed female relatives. After all, aren’t you impressed?