Besides the dry cleaner, what have you used on various stains on your vintage clothing items that you weren't afraid to get in there and treat? Is there a secret weapon?
The short answer is: It depends. As a new member, you may not have done much browsing of the VFG website - there are treasure troves of information about all sorts of topics, from labels, to fabric types, to book and reference recommendations, and so on. One of the public forums is called "Public Workshops: specialty vintage topics." A lot of useful threads, including this one from 2004. http://forums.vintagefashionguild.org/threads/a-down-dirty-guide-to-care-cleaning.9298/ Searching the forums can also be a good way to get started on a broad topic.