Thread: Rust on a beautiful costume

I have a gorgeous green cabaret costume of which the skirt portion and veil appears to have gotten rust on it. What if anything would you suggest would get those stains out?

There is a trick with lemon juice to remove rust, but I've personally not had much success with it. I usually use a commercial rust remover like Whink or Carbona #9. Whatever you do, spot test first, because anything strong enough to remove rust will also have the potential to be strong enough to interact badly with the fabric or embellishments and make the damage worse.

Or, depending on the size and placement of the spots, you might be able to just cover it up with more decoration.

I once had rust on a white costume, and I removed it with nail polish remover. I put small amounts of acetone on the rusty areas, and then took a tooth brush and scrubbed. That seemed to lighten up the rust spots, but at the same time, some of it started spreading, resulting in the fabric looking like a dirty white. When I finished, I scrubbed the fabric with warm water and soap, and all of the brown came out. I don't know how acetone would work on green, so be careful, but maybe you can get a little swatch of green material and test out the affects of the acetone before you use it on your costume. Good luck. :)