Educating children at home can quickly become a messy affair. Art supplies are the most significant cause of headaches among parents or guardians of little children. For example, crayons go to clothing instead of paper. How do you get crayons out of clothing?
The easiest way is when the crayon does not melt on the fabric. If it does, the solution requires more work. But if the crayon never melted, a dull knife, dish soap, warm water, and a little bit of washing can get the job done.
Let’s discuss this in more detail.
Getting Crayons Out of Clothing the Surest Way
The first thing you have to do is gather the necessary materials to get the job done.
Materials Needed
- Dull knife
- Warm water
- Bucket
- Liquid dishwashing soap
- Washing machine
- Detergent
- Baking soda or bleach
Step 1: Scrape Off as Much Crayon Pigment as You Can from the Clothing
Whether there is a thick layer of crayon on the clothing, it’s best to get a little elbow grease. Use a dull knife to scrape the crayon marks on the fabric gently.
Being gentle is necessary for this step since you don’t want to force the pigment deeper into the fabric’s fibers. You want to scrape the crayons OFF the clothing, not into it.
A duller knife is preferable to a sharp knife because you don’t want to damage your clothing. And if you are not sure about your knife, you can also try other flat items such as a firm card (e.g., credit card).
Step 2: Treat the Stains
Apply tons of liquid dish soap to the stain to treat it. Generously apply it on both sides of the clothing to get the best results. You don’t have to rub the dish soap into the fabric or anything. You just have to pour it on the cloth and saturate it. The soap will loosen the pigment particles of the crayons.
If you rub the soap into the cloth, you might set the crayons deeper into the fabric’s fibers. You don’t want that to happen. Instead, just let the dish soap do its work on the cloth for around thirty minutes.
After that, prepare a small bucket or any container where you can place the clothing. Soak the clothing in a mixture of warm water and liquid dishwashing soap. The longer you let the clothing soak, the more the crayons will loosen from the fabric’s fibers. However, an hour of soaking is often enough for most cases.
Step 3: Rinse the Cloth
After soaking the clothing in the mixture of warm water and liquid dishwashing soap, rinse it. The next part of the cleaning process involves machine washing the clothing. You don’t want any liquid dishwashing soap residue in your washing machine.
Liquid dishwashing soap in water is bubbly when irritated. When in the washing machine, the bubbles or suds can wreak havoc on the machine. So make sure to rinse the cloth thoroughly.
For best results, it’s advisable to use warm water in the rinsing. Warm water helps loosen up the crayon pigments from the clothing fibers.
Step 4: Machine Wash
Throw the clothing into the washing machine and add the appropriate amount of detergent. Whether the detergent is liquid or powder does not matter. The water should be as warm as the clothing can take, and the washing machine should be on heavy soil settings. You want to agitate the crayon pigments off the clothing as much as possible.
Add bleach or baking soda into the machine to achieve the best results. If the clothing is colored, use color-safe bleach.
Step 5: Air Dry
Let the clothing air-dry. Crayons are partly made of wax. And wax melts when exposed to heat. If you didn’t manage to get all of the crayon pigments off the clothing, you don’t want them to melt and sleep deeper into the fabric’s fibers. So don’t use heat to dr6y the clothing.
Instead, use a clothesline and place the clothing out of direct sunlight.
Step : Repeat Steps 1 to 5 If There are More Stains
You will only see how effective your work has been after the clothing has dried, regretfully. So you will have to wait before knowing whether you have more work to do. Once the clothing is dried, check it for crayon stains. If there are more stains, you have to repeat steps 1 to 5 of the process repeatedly until the stains are completely gone.
Are There Other Options?
The process I discussed above is the surest way to get crayons out of clothing. However, if you find it too tedious, there are other options. You can try products such as ink and stain removers or magic erasers.
When using these items, you have to strictly follow the manufacturer’s guide on how to use their products. These cleaning substances are very strong; you can damage your clothing if you use them wrong.
That’s why I prefer to employ the elbow grease method; it’s safer for the clothing.
Conclusion
So, how do you get crayons out of clothing?
- You try to scrape off as much crayon substance from the fabric as possible.
- Then you treat the stains with dishwashing soap and warm water.
- Then you use a washing machine to do the most damage against the crayon stains.
- But before using the machine, you have to rinse the clothing with warm water.
- Then you air-dry the fabric.
- Repeat the process if needed.
I also wrote a guide for getting crayons out of paper if you need it!