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No Stain, No Gain

One of my house rules is that all crayons and pens stay in the kitchen.  (Stay tuned for more house rules, as I was recently tagged for the Personal Policies meme that’s going around.)

So anyway.  No writing implement of any kind is supposed to make it to the second floor.  With an ink-happy 4-year-old and a 20-month-old who can create chaos in the most benign of environments, it is just easier to keep all art supplies under lock and key and use them only in the kitchen where I can supervise and where they can be the least destructive if they find their way into the wrong hands.

There is one exception.  In the rare event D wants to do art with a friend, I will let them go up to his room.  He is generally responsible, and he has dark blue carpet that doesn’t stain very easily.  And they are usually good about keeping the door shut because they don’t want any little intruders bothering them anyway.

Well, today was one such day, and as my friend and I were visiting downstairs, it occurred to me that all of the kids were upstairs.  We went up to check on them and found D and his friend playing a game in the hallway and his bedroom door wide open with all the art supplies scattered about, in plain view and easy access to curious little fingers.

It was R that I was most concerned about, but she wasn’t to blame for what I found next, which was this:

A generous portion of C’s gorgeous Pottery Barn Kids quilt was covered in itty-bitty ink dots.  Laying nearby was the incriminating evidence — an assortment of pens and a large sheet of paper with about eleventy-hundred little holes poked through it.  Lovely.

So.  This is where YOU come in, dear Internets.  HOW, pray tell, do I get the ink out of this quilt without allowing it to bleed and make a bigger mess?  I am counting on you to have a reliable solution.  Give me your best shot.

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13 Responses

  1. I used to live and breathe by Carbona Stain Devils. They got out anything. They aren’t in abundance anymore at the stores I frequent but I gather they are still out there. Good Luck!!!

  2. Don’t know how you get it out but I remember the time my now almost-30 year old niece was little and I stopped in to visit. My sister said “Jenna, show your Auntie your new art project”. Jenna took me by the hand and lead me to her bedroom where she showed me her brand new white bed quilt that was covered with black permanent marker. I asked her what her mom said and she whispered “That’s a good job, Jenna”. Made me love her even more. Don’t know if my sister felt the same way but we retell that story all the time.

  3. I recently had my work clothes go through the wash with a pen. (thanks kids!) What worked for me was to mix a small amount of liquid detergent with rubbing alcohol and using an old toothbrush I rubbed the solution into the stains and then laundered the clothes as I normally do. Everyone of the stains came out. The alcohol is what removes the ink, I found if I used it alone the stain just bled. Alcohol can also be used to remove permanent marker.

    Good luck!

  4. Don’t kid yourself. My sister wasn’t that kind. That’s why Jenna whispered her answer to my question. My sister, to this day, still won’t admit to anyone what she said (or did) But Jenna never, ever did that again. Of course, that same year, she lifted the register off her floor heat register and used it as a toilet because she was too afraid to go down the hallway to the bathroom at night. Jenna is quite the creative soul. Today she’s a buyer for Macy’s so it all turned out pretty good. However, when she drinks too much, they refer to her as “Earl”. I’m just sayin’!

  5. When I had a pen explode in the dryer and the ink dried in I used hair spray and washed it in COLD water. I think I let the hair spray set in for about a half an hour before washing it then I checked to see if the stain was gone before I put it in the dryer. If it wasn’t gone I repeated the process I might of had to repeat this process twice but I got the stains out. But I will warren you that when you spray the hair spray on the stain it will bleed but that is good because that means it will probably come out. I hope that is helpful.

  6. Oxiclean. It is a miracle cleaner. Although, I have never tried it on ink. But it has taken care of grease and chocolate. I would probably try the spray stuff first, spray it on the spots, let it sit and rub a bit. You could also try soaking the whole thing, but I’m not sure whether it would cause further bleeding or not.

    Good luck…

  7. Oxiclean is good, I agree. I’d presoak with spot remover and wash with oxiclean in as hot as it can take. Maybe several times and then let it dry in the sunlight to bleach it a bit.

  8. I haven’t tried this personally, but two friends have told me that for Sharpie and ink pens, rubbing alcohol dissolves it beautifully…

  9. Just last week, I dropped a permanent black marker on my pink-ish top and khaki capris. I blotted the spot with rubbing alcohol (dab, don’t rub!). After I got as much as I could out, I soaked it overnight in cold water, changing the water in the mornings, then washed as usual. Beautiful, stain-free clothes!

    Hope this helps!!