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What's the best way to wash cross stitch fabric?

I do cross stitching and want to know what is the best way to wash or whiten back up the cloth after you have done the pattern with your grubby fingers, which may have had snack foods on them while cross stiching the pattern ) The cloth is just never as clean and white after I do the design as it was when I started out. How can I get that clean white look back after I have crosstitched on it?

bleach may do terrible things to your embroidery threads.

dish detergent is often recommended. If the embroidery includes silk, use a cleaning method *intended* for silk or at least for hair (i.e. Orvus or NoMoreTears). Avoid cleaners that include dyes. Many whiteners are actually blue dyes. Such wil throw off your colors.

If you've been eating chocolate, the iron in the chocolate may be leaving rust stains. Good luck on getting out rust without messing up the embroidery.

Let the embroidery dry face down on a white towel. If color bleeds into the towel, repeat. If color still bleeds into the towel, repeat. If color still beeds into the towel, give up. Do *not* hang it up to dry because any bleeding would go into adjacent areas and may never ever come out.

For future projects: don't do that. Earlier this week I was snacking on chocolate-covered peanuts in 80+ºF weather, using a spoon to keep the chocolate off my hands. I've eaten potatoe chips with chop sticks. You don't need to stop snacking unless you want to do so. IMHO you do need to stop touching the snacks with your hands as you embroider.

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