Ink stains used to be the bane of my existence.
My first foray into serious ink stain removal took place a few years ago when my then 2-year-old daughter came toddling up to me with a huge blue ink stain on her white sweat suit.
“What happened to your pants?” I cried.
“Dada,” she replied.
Long story short Dada fell asleep on the couch and while he napped little Miss I-was-just-being-a-curious-toddler, got her hands on a blue Sharpie and went to town creating a masterpiece on her lily white sweat suit.
I was tempted to trash the sweat suit, but thanks to washing advice from my mom I was able to salvage it.
If you are dealing with stubborn stains, these tips my help save a beloved piece of clothing:
Permanent Ink: Ink from permanent markers, such as Sharpies, is extremely difficult to remove from clothing. The trick to removing permanent ink is to act fast. Very fast. As soon as you see the ink, place the stained side of the garment on towels and saturate the stained area with rubbing alcohol. Once the stain is wet, blot it with clean towels being careful not to spread the stain to rest of the fabric. Continue blotting until the towels won’t absorb any more of the ink. Let the garment dry and then carefully sponge the permanent ink stain with a dry-cleaning solvent. The solvent should lift the remainder of the stain. Once it does, rub the area with detergent and rinse thoroughly. If you can’t get your hands on dry-cleaning solvent, then use a diluted solution of ammonia. When the stain begins to fade, rinse the fabric, repeat the process, and then launder the garment as usual.
Ballpoint Ink: Ballpoint ink stains can be removed with alcohol-based solvents. Here’s how:
1. Place the stained clothing item over a dry white towel
2. Apply some rubbing alcohol over the stain and blot stain with
another clean towel until the stain begins to fade
3. Rinse the garment with clean water to remove all traces of the rubbing alcohol
4. Apply liquid detergent to the garment and allow it to absorb for about five minutes
5. Wash garment in warm water
Another way to remove ballpoint pen ink stains from clothing is to flood the stain with alcohol-based hair spray, and then dab it with a clean towel until the ink begins to lift. The alcohol should help loosen the ink molecules. Once the ink begins to fade, launder the garment as usual.