May 2, 2012

Tip to Remove Permanent Marker From Clothes

The other day Grace was coloring with Sharpies, and she accidentally marked her shirt.  I remembered reading a tip on Pinterest about getting permanent marker out of just about everything.  I couldn't remember where, so I googled it and found this amazingly comprehensive list!

Shhhhh! Here's the secret.
  • Work on it as soon as possible
  • Hand Sanitizer (aka ethyl alcohol) rubbed in and rinsed out, repeatedly

We have a monster-size bottle of hand sanitizer that I bought as a refill for Ben in his truck.  Honestly, I was a bit skeptical, but I hated to pitch a white turtleneck that Grace had worn only a handful of times.  Silly me, I let it sit for about 6 hours before I attempted to remove it.  I'm confident I could have completely removed it if I had treated it right away.

Before:


 After about 15 minutes:

 After about 20 minutes of scrub, rinse, and repeat, I washed and dried the turtleneck:

Pretty impressive, eh?!  I thought so.  What's your secret to removing crayon, permanent marker, or your budding artist's favorite medium?

3 lovely comments:

Innkeeper Seely said... Best Blogger Tips

When all else fails, try carpet spot remover. Test a seam to make sure the garment is color fast.

content2be said... Best Blogger Tips

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to try it out. :)

Kari said... Best Blogger Tips

I found some Carbona on closeout at Kroger for $.30. It's a little yellow bottle with formulas for getting out fats/oils, crayon/pen, blood, etc. These have always worked the best for me.