Originally posted by: Aflac
1) Rub some lemon juice and salt and leave it for 10 minutes and then wash.
2) Sponge the area with undiluted vinegar and launder immediately afterward. For severe stains, add 1-2 cups vinegar to the wash cycle as well.
3) try hydrogen peroxide, natural cleanser. Oxyclean works well too.
pasta sauce also has some oil in it, a stain stick or something similar wouldnt hurt if the above doesnt work entirely.
drycleaning doesnt do much remove water-based stains, which is a majority of what makes up a pasta sauce stain. it removes oil-based stains, primarily. its call "dry" cleaning because theres almost no water moisture in the solvent.
if its a dress shirt, it wasnt drycleaned, it was likely laundered, and pressed on a VERY hot press (think over 300F), probably setting the stain. any decent cleaner would have worked on it before cleaning/finishing, as this finishing will often set a stain and make it harder to remove.
also, cleaners (again, decent ones, not cheap ones) use a number of stain removal products in addition to the cleaning method implemented. cheap ones usually skip stain removal.
if it were me, id take a stain stick to it, let it sit 10 minutes, rinse it on warm. then id take a peroxide or oxyclean, apply it to the stain and let it sit (while damp, dont bother drying it after the first rinse) a good half hour, and rinse it again.
/drycleaner