When kids are young, you have no other choice than to have some craft supplies at home. And crayon makes the grade among all the craft supplies for kids. Activities involving crayons can take up a lot of attention and time away from gadgets – which is most important to me at present. As a mama I am happy to have these crayons to depend on but as a housewife in charge of laundry, not so much. The marks they leave on clothes and bed sheets are not so pleasant.
The problem with crayons is that they have a waxy thing in them that latches on to clothes like butter on to bread. Can you separate bread and butter? You don’t need to but you have to separate the fabric and those unattractive crayon lines. Here is how to.
How to remove crayon markings and other marker stains from clothes
Quick hack to remove crayon stain
Use rubbing alcohol. Moisten a cotton ball with a small amount of rubbing alcohol. Gently blot the crayon stain with the damp cotton ball. Start from the outer edges of the stain and work your way towards the center. Avoid scrubbing, as this may spread the stain further. Blot the area with clean, dry paper towels to absorb any remaining moisture and loosened crayon wax.
Do not use the rubbing alchohol hack on Acetate, Silk, Rayon and Leather.
First and foremost, scrape off whatever dry crayon particles or any other dirt that is remaining on the fabric. You may want to use a blunt knife or sand paper or steel wool for this
So step one – Rub the crayon marks lightly with steel wool or soft sand paper
Now you need to wash it off. For this, other than the dish washing liquid you also need some tissues/paper towels/ or a sponge.
Rub some undiluted dish washing liquid (one or two drops) on the stain. You are now spot-treating the stain. The dish washing liquid is meant to remove oil from plates so it will work the same magic here too.
Let the liquid detergent sit for some 10 -15 minutes.
Dab the stain with dry tissue/paper towel/clean fabric piece. Dab from both sides and try to get the stain out. Remove as much of the stain as possible with the tissue/sponge. If it gets soiled/wet in between change immediately.
If the mark seems stubborn, you may want to use something to release the marks from the fabric
Try some hairspray on the spot. Dab immediately.
( And do not leave hair spray unwashed – it can leave its own stain)
Now on to the washing machine for washing.
Wash the clothing in hot water
You will have to use hot water setting on your washing machine to remove those oily markings fully. Put in the washing powder and some oxygen bleach ( bleach suitable for colored clothing) together to wash. Wash in heavy soiled setting or for about 15-20 minutes.
Rinse and dry, as usual.
If the stains prove stubborn and you are really determined to tackle it – give it one more go.
This time pre-soak the stained garment in some detergent powder and liquid bleach (safe for colored clothing) and hot water. Let the clothing remain in there for some time – half an hour would do it. Wash again and dry.
If the stain is still there, do some alterations or additions to the garment that will make the stain invisible – try applique, reverse applique, embroidery, fabric brooches, fabric bows, ribbon trims etc.
The solution given here works for all stains made from the art supplies that kids use to paint and draw like wax crayons, pastel crayons, dry erase crayons, window crayons. You can even treat stains from marker pens, acrylic paints etc the same way.
If you do not want to go through all this trouble, next time, buy Dry erase crayons – they are supposed to be washable easily – ie they will not stain fabrics.
Disclaimer: Different types of fabrics react differently to different solutions. I mean, your fabric may fade or even look patchy when you spot treat it with dish washing liquid or wash it in hot water. Know thy fabric well before you try any stain removing solution. Preferably try the tricks on an inconspicuous place before trying on the main area.
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