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Removing color bleed stains on duvet.

6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago

Hello all,

I recently bought a new (100% cotton) duvet cover. It is a red and white pattern and unfortunately when I washed it for the first time, some minor color bleeding occurred making very several faded, dime sized, pink areas.


How do I get these stains out without damaging the product? They are fairly minor but they are annoying me.


I already dried it because I didn’t notice the stains out of the wash. Does that mean it is too late to fix the stains?


I would post photos but the stains are too light to show in a photo in my nighttime lighting right now

Comments (9)

  • 6 years ago

    Very carefully use a weak bleach solution and a Q-Tip to apply to the spots, rinse out quickly.

    G K thanked krissie55
  • 6 years ago

    Like oxygen bleach or oxiclean? I think chlorine bleach may be too risky.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Are the pink areas on the white or on the red? I'd be worried about using bleach on the white; you'd have to rewash the whole thing to wash it out and I'd be worried it would get bleach on the red part or even cause more fading in the machine. If the pink areas are spots faded in the red, you could try a matching permanent marker lightly dabbed on it.

    eta: Rit used to make a fabric dye remover that you would use to remove color from fabric before dying it a different color. Not sure the logistics of keeping it on just the white part, then washing it out. - oh I just googled to see if they still do and I found this:


    color run remover

    Can you return it?

  • 6 years ago

    The spots are on the white part of the duvet. It is one of these geometric color block patterns. It has a dark red border with a pleated white center. I probably can’t return it anymore and I think I’d keep it since it isn’t too obvious. Here are two example pictures of the problem. I circled the pink stains in blue. There are about half a dozen spots like this between the shams and the duvet.



    As you can see, it isn’t that obvious but it’s still noticeable. Since it’s so light of a stain, I was wondering if there would be an easy remedy.


  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Since the pink stain is on the dark areas too I would learn to live with it. Next time you wash the duvet put a Shout Color Catcher sheet in the washing machine. This will catch loose dye and not let it settle on other things. The color catcher can be found in the laundry aisle of stores.

  • 6 years ago

    You might try Rit Color Remover. I've successfully used it in the past to get rid of color bleed.

    My biggest concern is that you already dried it. It's hard to remove stains after drying.

  • 6 years ago

    I would blot those bleeds with a cotton ball soaked in good old 3% hydrogen peroxide. Do it over your ironing board or kitchen island, with an old towel folded underneath to soak up the HP so it doesn’t saturate the duvet fibers and run into the red.


    Tide To Go might also help, but I’ve little experience with that one. Definitely need a color catcher sheet for the next couple washes. Good luck.

  • 6 years ago

    I've had good luck with soaking in oxyclean and water.