Chocolate Cranberry Surprise, Ugh

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Sometimes we do things that are just plain stupid. Luckily, Google comes to the rescue. Last week while watching a movie, I felt like a little snack. I poured dark chocolate covered cranberries into the lid of the Mason jar (a handy measuring device) and went back to sitting on the couch. The couch that I had covered with white Matelassé slipcovers (at a staggering price). This should have been no problem at all. But I had more than the usual number of little chocolate nuggets in that lid. When I stood up some time later, I saw a huge glob of dark chocolate smashed on the seat. Evidently I had been sitting on one of the pieces of chocolate for almost an hour. Disaster? I thought so, but I Googled how to remove chocolate from fabric and added to my already vast knowledge of cleaning food off of fabrics. Step one: I carefully removed the slipcover from the cushion. Step two: I used a sharp knife to peel off as much chocolate as I could while holding the cover over the kitchen sink. Step three: I used an old toothbrush to flick off the remaining “not ground into the fabric” pieces of chocolate. Then the fun began. Step four: I poured some liquid dish soap into a bowl and added cold water. I used the spray attachment on my faucet to make lots of bubbles. I used the bubbles to loosen more chocolate. Step five: I soaked the stained part of the slipcover in the soapy water for thirty minutes. Meanwhile I berated myself for being such an idiot and hoped that I had not ruined my very white slipcover. Step six: Thirty minutes later, I removed the soaked fabric and used more soap suds to work into the quarter sized brown stain. Step seven: I took the cover to my laundry room and applied liquid stain remover to the spot. (Now you all know why I don’t own many pieces of white clothing).Step eight: I tossed the slipcover into the washing machine; added laundry detergent and all fabric bleach and set the machine. I set the water temperature to cold and crossed my fingers. When the machine buzzed that it was finished, I lifted out the cover and looked for the mark. It was not hard to find. Darn. Step nine: I made a small pile of dry all fabric bleach on the all too visible brown spot, moistened it with water, and left the room. A couple of hours later I returned and took the slipcover to the bathroom and dumped the dried all fabric bleach into the sink. The spot was no longer visible. I checked really closely, et voilà, gone. Step ten: Just to be sure all the bleach-like substance was off the fabric, I put the slipcover through one more cycle in the washer and then into the dryer. As you can see above, the white slipcover is perfectly clean and back in service on my couch. Lessons learned? Don’t snack on more dark chocolate covered cranberries than fit easily in the lid of the Mason jar. Trust that buying really good fabric and great products will save you from idiotic mistakes. Have you saved yourself from such disasters? What did you do?