Don’t panic if you just noticed that you washed your clothes with a pen or a marker. There are a few things you can do to try to remove the ink. However, your success may depend on what type of ink you are dealing with. Vegetable based inks, water based inks, and normal “kids’ markers” are generally easy to remove. Pen ink can be a little harder to deal with, but still generally responds to treatment or multiple treatments. Permanent ink from permanent markers is a lot harder to remove.
For water and vegetable based inks, the key is to keep the area wet. As soon as you notice the mark or stain, wet it, preferably with hot water. Check the fabric tag to make sure that hot water is okay to use on the fabric before you do this. Wet the area with hot water and blot it with another clean cloth. I find that paper towels do really well here, because they’re so absorbent. Blot away as much of the ink as you can, being careful to use a clean section of the blotting material each time you press down. This will ensure that you don’t remove ink, and then press it back into the fabric that you’re trying to clean. You can also put paper towels or another clothe beneath the area you are treating to absorb from the opposite side.
When you’ve removed as much as you can by blotting with hot water, put a dab of laundry pre-treatment or laundry detergent on the spot. Gently rub it in until it is coming through the other side of the fabric. Leave the detergent or spot treatment to set for three to five minutes, but be careful not to let the spot dry. Add bits of water as needed so that the stain does not set in. Rinse the fabric and blot again. If any ink remains, repeat the process.
Pen ink is a little harder to remove, but not as hard as permanent ink. Use the same treatment process for pen ink. If the ink stain remains, you may need to move on to something stronger. Rubbing alcohol can be used to remove pen ink or permanent ink. You will definitely need to test an inconspicuous area before you do this. If all else fails and the garment is pretty much ruined anyway, you may want to try nail polish remover or acetone. Acetone will melt synthetic fabrics, so make sure that you do this as a last resort and test inside of a seam or somewhere before you begin.
If the garment is really important to you, it may be best to go directly to a professional cleaner. They have different types of detergents and chemicals that may be able to more safely remove ink stains from your clothing.
About the Author: Sam Morton is on the staff of USA Hanger, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers. They are known for the excellent quality and value of their hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.usahanger.com/.
