Stain removal in wools of the 18th century from EWHOH.

To Take Spots Out of Woolen Cloth

Take some of the best fullers earth that can be got; then lay it before the fire till it is quite hard, and beat it in a morter till it is as fine as powder, then mix it with a sufficient quantity of oil of turpentine, and make it up in balls, which you may keep beside you and use in the following manner. Put one of them into a pan filled with boiling water, and when it is dissolved let it be laid on the spots, where it must remain till it is dry; then rub it with a hard brush till all the spots are out, when you must take a piece of thin cloth and rub it over it to take out what remains of the fullers earth.

Amelia Chambers- The Ladies Best Companion; Or, a Golden Treasure for the Fair Sex. … By Mrs. Amelia Chambers. .. London: Printed for J. Cooke, 1775. Print

To Take Spots Out of Woolen Cloth

Take a Pound of Roch Alum, burn it well, and beat it into Powder, add to it the Powder of the Roots of Florence-flame, a Herb so called, about Half a Pound, and to these add a new laid Egg, and two Pounds and an Half of Cake Soap, and make them up with fair Water into round Balls ; and when you are desirous to take out any Spot or Stain, warn well the Place first with warm Water, and then lay a Laying of this Soap upon it for three or four Hours, and then wash it off with other warm Water, and in doing so often they will disappear. Or, Take Wood sorrel, and distill it in an Alembic with Fumitory, and warn the damaged Place therewith, and it will in frequent doing restore it.

Sarah Harrison, Mary Morris- The House-keeper’s Pocket-book, and Compleat Family Cook, Containing Above Twelve Hundred Curious and Uncommon Receipts in Cookery, Pastry, Preserving, Pickling, Candying, Collaring, etc., with Plain and Easy Instructions for Preparing and Dressing Every Thing Suitable for an Elegant Entertainment, from Two Dishes to Five Or Ten, etc., and Directions for Ranging Them in Their Proper Order.