Household Hacks: Getting Wax Out of Fabric

I like the look of a tablecloth, but rarely take the time to actually put them to use. A few weeks ago however, I pulled one out in an effort to step up the class of our in-home anniversary dinner and provide a more romantic feel. I decided this was going to be one time I didn't mess up a tablecloth, and tried extra hard to be neat. It sure is difficult to pay attention to a piece of material on the table though (especially when you have such a hunk of a man sitting beside you!), and after the first scoop of lasagna ended up leaving some behind (I cringed), and then a forkful of my food didn't quite all make it into my mouth, I quickly abandoned the idea and relaxed for the remainder of the meal. But at the end of the evening when it came time to blow out the candles, I saw that one of them had just started dripping wax. Onto the tablecloth. Now that, I knew, wasn't the least bit washable. I figured I'd better at least check and see if there was any way possible to take the wax out after I scraped the majority off, because it was an automatic ruin if I stuck it in the washer as is. Google to the rescue! I tried the first suggestion I found. 

Here's what it said to do: Heat your iron to the warmest setting your fabric type can handle. Place a brown paper sack over the wax spot and iron over top of the sack. The grease from the wax will transfer onto the paper! Keep moving the sack until you don't see any grease when ironing. After that you can just plop it into the washing machine, launder as normal, and you're good to go!

So that's what I did. I examined the tablecloth after pulling it out of the dryer. I knew the wax was in the corner with the tag, so I figured it'd be a fairly easy find. After some searching I located a slightly darker spot and assumed that was where the candle had been. It was satisfactory. Not too noticeable in my opinion. This morning going through my before and after pictures I realized that darker spot didn't match up with where the wax had dripped, so I spent a few more minutes in detective mode and I still can't find the greasy wax spots. What I thought was leftover wax before I realized today was actually a lasagna stain. In my excitement to see if I could successfully remove candle wax residue, I forgot to use stain remover on the bits of food. Oops. 

I'd say this method works. Just don't forget about the other stains before sticking your material in the washer.

Whats for dinner tonight: I don't know yet. Going to be out of town with the husband later this afternoon.