How to remove heavy rust stains from vintage fabric?

Soak in milk them hand wash

Saturate thoroughly with lemon juice and then sit it in the direct sun to dry. You should see that the stain disappears.

Shohana has the right idea. Lemon juice and sunshine. I actually mixed a bit of salt in my lemon juice and put it on nice slacks that had gotten up against a belt while wet and had rust spots. Took the rust right out! Let it sit in the sun for several hours, checking it every couple hrs.

Have you tried Whink? Fabulous stuff for rust stains! (test on your vintage fabric first though)

If you don't want to leave your vintage material in the sun to bleach out and fade, you might consider trying white vinegar. My Dad taught !e to soak rusted things in vinegar years ago. It dissolves the rust!

*** Test your fabric if fragile!