Age of this handmade dress and tips on removing armpit stains?

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Pepper Sinclair

Registered Guest
I picked up this vintage dress at the Salvation Army today and I am wondering if what I got is real vintage or just made to look vintage. The seams are pinked, there are 2 belt loops, the material appears to be some sort of a silk or polyester and is pretty thin. There are a lot of pleats in the dress and the size is pretty small. The armpits are pretty gross and I'm wondering if there's anyway I can remove the stains without damaging the colour. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

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It certainly looks vintage to me. Early 60s shirtwaist style.
It looks like a fine cotton to me from the photos. Pity about those stains. I would initially begin by gently hand washing first.
You might have difficulty getting rid of those armpit stains. I have used a product called Folex that you can buy at Canadian Tire (if you're in Canada) It's in the upholstery fabric cleaning section. I would only use it after hand washing to see if the initial wash helped to remove some of the staining.
 
I agree with Mary Jane on all counts and would also try soaking in an oxygen bleach if the hand washing doesn't remove the stains. You don't have anything to lose as this dress isn't good with those stains.

If it is silk, the stains probably won't budge and the oxygen bleach might damage it so I'd recommend determining fibre content if you can first.
 
I have had good luck soaking in Oxyclean. That is a brand of oxygen cleaner/bleach widely available in the US. It will brighten the print and may remove or reduce the under arm stains. Good luck.
Marian
 
So I washed it with a soft detergent last night and scrubbed the armpits gently and then hung it outside to dry. But when I checked this morning, the armpit stains were still there. It looks as if they got a little lighter but not much. I was researching a bit and I found that many people recommend crushing aspirin tablets and mixing them with water and baking soda and then applying it to the stains. Has anyone tried this? Does this work?
 
I remembered this formula that works wonders to remove under arm stains. Equal amounts of liquid non-chlorox bleach ( there are a number of different brand names) and ammonia.
Marian
 
There are some really wacky cleaning tips available online, but there's always the risk you can damage the garment - I've had great results with oxygen bleach and (as long as it's not silk) it's safe to use. It doesn't like silk, or perhaps it's vice versa so I still recommend testing the fabric if you can before you use it, as the colours could run.
 
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