Non-toxic magic cleaning duo: club soda and dishsoap.

My house has become the official Mod Green Pod lab. I have MGP-upholstered pieces in just about every room, an MGP quilt on my bed, a few MGP Roman shades and curtains and MGP wallpaper on the walls of my living room. I've made table runners and tea towels and toy bags

and even skirts with MGP organic cotton (proving the versatility of the fabric!) and I have eons of ideas for even more things that I'd like to make. Oh, if I only had the time. . . .

Anyhow, I live with two small kids (age 3 and 8), my husband and an old cat. All have committed offenses of the spills and filth sort (actually, now that I think about it, my husband has not been an offender). In the case of our poor cat, she has a barfing issue (TMI, I know) and she seems to ONLY barf on my MGP covered sofa. Spills and stains happen, so here's what I heartily recommend, based on the Mod

Green Pod lab cleaning experiments:

1. Remove fabric cover from cushion (if it's a removable cover).

2. Gently brush off as much of the offending mess as possible.

3. Put the stained portion of the fabric in a large bowl and pour club soda over the stain until the entire stained area is soaking in the club soda.

4. Let soak for several hours.

5. At this point, I've repeated #3 with fresh club soda for a really nasty spot, and have continued to #6 for smaller spots.

6. Gently agitate fabric in the club soda.

7. Pour out club soda and still working in the bowl, gently scrub fabric with a clean rag and a tiny drop of eco-safe dishsoap (this one is my fave). Be sure that your rag hasn't been cleaned in chlorine bleach--not only is bleach toxic, it can actually bleach the color from the fabric you are cleaning. Also, be sure to scrub as little as possible. I haven't had any problem with the ink rubbing off, but I'm sure that with very vigorous scrubbing, it could fade the spot some.

8. Rinse in cold, clean water and allow fabric to drip dry.

In the case of upholstered areas that can't be unzipped and removed from a cushion, I would recommend pouring very tiny amounts of club soda on the stain and allowing the soda to sit and fizzle, dab with a cloth, and repeat many times, then lightly scrub with the dish soap.