Hints From Heloise

Dear Heloise: My daughter bought a beautiful black dress, but unfortunately, she was using bleach while wearing the dress and it splashed on two different places on the lower part. It left two rust-colored spots on the dress.

Is there any way to treat these two spots, or is the dress a total loss? - Jean Thomas, Seattle Sorry to say, you can’t remove them. However, you may be able to cover them up with a permanent black marker.

Before putting it on the spots, try the marker on a hidden area of the dress to make sure the color blends in with the black of the dress. Not all black colors are alike.

If it matches, simply cover the spot with the marker, rub with a cotton swab to blend and let dry. You may need to repeat every so often.

Good luck. I hope it works. - Heloise