Message: I spotted a cream colored garment of 65% Polyester and 35% Cotton. In so doing the spot turned white. May I bleach the entire garment so that it will turn white? Thank you for your attention to my dilemma.

No, it would not be wise to treat your 65% polyester garment with bleach. Chlorine bleach tends to damage polyester badly, producing an unattractive permanent yellowing. There is nothing that can be done to remove the yellowing.

The best thing to do would be to try to find a fabric marker or permanent marker to try to fill in the spot. It can be difficult to find an exact match, however. Your garment may be ruined.

The retouched spot will be much less noticeable if you use the garment as a canvas for iron-on designs you create with disperse dye paints (available from ProChem) or disperse dye crayons (available as Fabric Crayons from many crafts and fabric stores). See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

It might also be possible to use Low Water Immersion Dyeing to dye the portion of the fiber that is made of cotton. (Since the garment has a lot of polyester, the results will be pastel in color.) While a single smooth color would leave the spot visible as a lighter area, a mottled multi-color dyeing can cover up imperfections rather well.