Advice for cleaning an umbrella?
Hello ^^
So, I have this beautiful off-white/cream Lisbeth Dahl umbrella. It is shaped a bit like a brand umbrella and it has those nice ruffles at the bottom, so I use it as both my everyday umbrella and my Lolita one.
The problem is, it rains a lot where I live, sometimes heavily, and I've used this umbrella in such rain. There were times when I could not lay it open to dry (classrooms...), I had to close it even though it was still wet, and it dried this way. The result was that it got grayish-brown stains in the folds, and small rust stains on the inside (these aren't too visible on the outside so it's not too bad if I can't get them off). The little strap thingy is also dirty, this time it's probably sweat or something, because this is where I hold the thing to carry it - but most of this comes off with soap / dish detergent and a good scrubbing so it's not the main issue.
Also, the handle seems to be covered in some kind of clear plastic - at first I thought it was meant to be taken off but then I realized it was supposed to stay there, how weird - and after a while, parts of the plastic came off and there seems to be some kind of fabric under it. Problem is, the exposed parts of the fabric got stained as well, probably from my very sweaty hands. I'm not even sure this is actually fabric, I'm only assuming because of the texture and how easily it was stained. I wrapped clear tape around some of the holes in the plastic layer, but 1. it shows a bit 2. I did this too late and the fabric had time to get dirty so it still looks like brown stains, it just prevents the rest of the plastic from ripping and coming off any further.
I tried cleaning the umbrella with a mixture of warm water and dish detergent (I read somewhere that when you don't know what product to use to clean something, you can use that because it works on everything), I scrubbed the stained areas with a brush, but nothing came off (except on the strap, where most of the staining came off, but not quite all of it). I didn't try anything on the handle. I don't know what to do. Since it's an off-white / cream umbrella and not a white one, I'm afraid of trying anything containing bleach.
Do you have any advice on how to clean all this? Right now the umbrella looks so gross I hardly want to carry it in myblic, particularly when wearing Lolita, and it's my only one. Buying a new one could be an option, but I'd like to avoid it. I love my umbrella (I even named it! xD) so I'd like to save it if possible. Thank you in advance! ^^
So, I have this beautiful off-white/cream Lisbeth Dahl umbrella. It is shaped a bit like a brand umbrella and it has those nice ruffles at the bottom, so I use it as both my everyday umbrella and my Lolita one.
The problem is, it rains a lot where I live, sometimes heavily, and I've used this umbrella in such rain. There were times when I could not lay it open to dry (classrooms...), I had to close it even though it was still wet, and it dried this way. The result was that it got grayish-brown stains in the folds, and small rust stains on the inside (these aren't too visible on the outside so it's not too bad if I can't get them off). The little strap thingy is also dirty, this time it's probably sweat or something, because this is where I hold the thing to carry it - but most of this comes off with soap / dish detergent and a good scrubbing so it's not the main issue.
Also, the handle seems to be covered in some kind of clear plastic - at first I thought it was meant to be taken off but then I realized it was supposed to stay there, how weird - and after a while, parts of the plastic came off and there seems to be some kind of fabric under it. Problem is, the exposed parts of the fabric got stained as well, probably from my very sweaty hands. I'm not even sure this is actually fabric, I'm only assuming because of the texture and how easily it was stained. I wrapped clear tape around some of the holes in the plastic layer, but 1. it shows a bit 2. I did this too late and the fabric had time to get dirty so it still looks like brown stains, it just prevents the rest of the plastic from ripping and coming off any further.
I tried cleaning the umbrella with a mixture of warm water and dish detergent (I read somewhere that when you don't know what product to use to clean something, you can use that because it works on everything), I scrubbed the stained areas with a brush, but nothing came off (except on the strap, where most of the staining came off, but not quite all of it). I didn't try anything on the handle. I don't know what to do. Since it's an off-white / cream umbrella and not a white one, I'm afraid of trying anything containing bleach.
Do you have any advice on how to clean all this? Right now the umbrella looks so gross I hardly want to carry it in myblic, particularly when wearing Lolita, and it's my only one. Buying a new one could be an option, but I'd like to avoid it. I love my umbrella (I even named it! xD) so I'd like to save it if possible. Thank you in advance! ^^