My children got some paint on their clothing at Vacation Bible School. One was 95% cotton and 5% spandex. The other is 100% cotton. I don't know what kind of paint it is. The paint did come off easily when they washed their hands. I have already washed and dried both of them. Any suggestions?
Hadley from Clinton, NC
Tell the teacher to find out about mixing powdered soap in with the paint for stain removal from clothing. I don't know the details, but one of my kid's preschool teachers did that years ago so the kid's clothing wouldn't be ruined by paint that spattered over the aprons. (06/22/2007)
By Holly
I use white spirits for many mystery stains including paint. Just dab some on with a cloth and leave for about an hour before rinsing then washing normally.
It saved my ivory colored quilt which had black tar like stains over it, from washing DH work clothes before it. I had tried everything and after 12 months decided that the white spirits didn't work, I would recycle the okay parts of the fabric for craft.
White spirits is smelly but does the trick. You should be able to get it at the supermarket. (06/22/2007)
By Karryn
Thank you for the hairspray tips! Worked fantastically on really old dried paint on my cotton / spandex top. Just sprayed and scraped with a pair of scissors and the stain is almost impossible to see. (07/05/2007)
By kelly
Don't ask me why I put my 5 year old twins in nice shirts to do a craft activity, but I did and they both had spots of the puffy fabric paint when they were done. I used rubbing alcohol and a scouring sponge and they are nice shirts still! Thanks! (08/01/2007)
By Kari
We tried all the things listed above and nothing worked. Then I saw that we had Goof Off and that did work wonders. (08/13/2007)
I love this site. I haven't had any bad advise yet. I never thought about trying hairspray. It worked wonderfully. I use hairspray all the time in my crafting and stamping business. It cleans ink and adhesives off of just about any surface with ease, including rubber stamps. Makes me wonder what it's been doing to my hair. Thanks for the great idea! (10/09/2007)
By Colleen
Thanks. The hairspray, alcohol, and soap worked. (11/16/2007)
By Hilary Lannaman
I would imagine Nail Polish Remover will do the trick for acrylic paint! (11/23/2007)
By Dennis
Use "Goof Off". I got it at Tractor Supply Co. for less than $8 (16ozCan). It took all of the paint completely off of my favorite jeans. It takes a little scrubbing but it's definitely worth it. (01/02/2008)
By Hannah
Windex is the best stain remover. Along with using nail polish remover and water and hairspray, especially on acrylic paint! (02/05/2008)
By Clarke
My teenage son had a very expensive hoodie and of course he wore it to his art class. Needless to say acrylic paint ended up on both cuffs and part of the sleeve. He was very upset. I'm not much of a laundress (I usually set stains!) but I managed to get it out, and the sweatshirt looks like new. Hairspray (extra hold) and Pine Sol really did the trick. Thanks for the great advice!
(02/20/2008)
By Roberta
91% alcohol worked like a charm. Took off some of the dye of my clothes but the paint is gone. (02/26/2008)
By patrick
I was at work and got white paint on the sleeve of a black shirt (60/40 cotton/polyester) and the shirts are about $25 a pop or so and it was brand new. I used a combination of the hairspray, peroxide, and detergent with a scrubbing part of a cheap dish sponge and it eventually came out for the most part. Picking with your fingers also helps out prior to any scrubbing. (06/15/2008)
By The Stain Fighter
Anything very greasy, like thick paint or tar or bike grease, put it into the wash with soap and empty a can of coke (coca cola) into it as well! Voila! it comes out clean (I couldn't believe it the first time I tried, scared to think what coke can do to our insides... uggh). Good luck :) (07/01/2008)
By neomi
I just removed dried acrylic paint from a freshly modified (2 hours work) camp uniform t-shirt using nail polish remover (scrub/rinse), followed by hairspray (scrub/rinse), followed by Goo Gone (scrub/rinse), followed by SIMPLE GREEN (that was the magic ingredient, no scrub/rinse required). Thank you, Simple Green. It's all clean! Hooray!
(07/14/2008)
By Helpful Guest
WOW! Rubbing alcohol worked like magic. My son had just gotten a brand new T-shirt and leaned into some fresh paint in the house, we were sure the shirt was history but after trying the rubbing alcohol and using an old toothbrush the paint came right out with no discoloration to the black fabric! (The paint was even dried and on there for over 24 hours). Thanks for the tip. (08/24/2008)
By Debbie
Thank you. I just tried Goo Gone and rubbing alcohol on a pair of khaki shorts that had blue bottom boat paint. I thought they were gone, but I got them clean. Also rubbed them with a toothbrush and Tide. A final wash with Tide and Borax. (09/09/2008)
By Ann
My daughter got fabric paint on her new navy blue scrubs at school. She brought them home and used a combination of Rubbing Alcohol & Goo B Gone. She let that soak in for a few seconds then hair sprayed the spots. Used a wash cloth and rubbed vigorously. Seems to have worked just fine. Did not discolor the navy scrubs at all. (10/16/2008)
By Shelly
Well, on this cold, rainy night, I was trying to think of something that would make me smile and then I pulled my black knit sweater out of the washer to find dried white paint in spots on the bottom front. I quickly came to research how to get it out. It was especially problematic because the sweater is a very narrow ribbed woolen like knit. I grabbed my bottle of alcohol and went to work with a Q-tip.
After just a few minutes of dabbing and rubbing, the dried paint on my black sweater began to thin and then started to completely disappear the more I added alcohol and rubbed. I am so grateful to you all. You saved my beautiful black sweater from the bottom of the Goodwill barrel! Thanks! I'm smiling from ear to ear. (11/12/2008)
By Vicki S.
Okay. Get yourselves the Mr. Clean magic eraser. It took dried paint off of my daughter's Christmas dress that she wore to school. It takes a little elbow grease, but it looks so much better. Mind you, I had navy blue paint on a red dress. Start scrubbing and good luck! (12/20/2008)
By DANIELLE
Try peanut butter (02/02/2009)
My husband is a painter, to remove paint from clothing, carpet and pretty much any surface he uses Windex. He won't use anything else, it always works. Just get a dry rag or towel, spray it with the Windex, and dab and rub the stain. But don't scrub too hard. (02/20/2009)
(Submitted via email)
I had white paint on my golfing waterproofs and have just removed the stain using Dylon Fabric Care Dry Clean Stain Remover, which was purchased in our local Ironmongers.
Charles B. (05/18/2009)
By Sally
The common wisdom is that one can't remove dried acrylic paint from fabric. I am an amateur artist and have clothes dedicated to art. This weekend I got liquitex acrylic on two shirts, a leather handbag, and a leather car steering wheel. My hostess had Commercial Line Fantastik Heavy Duty Cleaner and Commercial Line Windex with Ammonia D. It removed the paint and everything. Both are Made by the S.C. Johnson Co.
Two questions; while the paint had dried, it was a day old. The color was yellow. Are either of these a factor? Paint is created from various ingredients that give it color. Would any other chemicals have done the trick. I now have a bottle of these two cleaners, half and half. I may add some vinegar and ammonia. Alas, a lot of this is pot luck and experimentation. (05/25/2009)
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