Oilcloth cleaning test

Yassin from Bulgaria wrote me an email the other day with a great question. He needs to remove tomato paste stains off his white oilcloth apron. So off to the test kitchen I went.

First I smeared tomato paste all over some scraps of oilcloth and let it sit while we eat breakfast.

After I whipped the dried tomato off I then sprayed each oilcloth scrap with a cleaner. I let them soak for a bit.

Here are the cleaners that I used. Once I whipped the cleaners off almost all the stains got worse. Not cool.

All but these two cleaners. They both did a good job to remove the stain. I worry about the Tilex for several reasons, for one, will it break the fabric down?

I like this one best. The De-Solv-it is great an Organic, environmentally friendly, biodegradable product. Its main ingredient is essential citrus oils. The problem is that once you use it you are left with a very oily surface. All you need to do is use a simple hand soap to clean off the oily residue. I would avoid the spraying the oil onto the bias tape trim on the aprons. If you do get oil on the trim I bet Dawn Dish washing soap will help get it out.

Remember stains need soaking and scrubbing. Our hands do the best work most the time!


I took the De-solv-it scrap out into the intense sun here is the out come.