Ink removal from fabric -- a how to!

[Captainofthe7th]

Recently I got this great theater made field jacket with a (presumably) child's name scrawled on the back in pen. I have no idea when it was done or what sort of ink, but it has been there for awhile. I began using denatured alcohol as it is generally safe for fabric but does wonders against many other substances. This faded the ink a bit, but not enough. After doing research online, I found cheap hairspray is highly recommended, even for vintage clothing. So I said what the heck and went for it.

 

I sprayed the affected area liberally, so it was saturated, and scrubbed gently but persistently with a toothbrush. I 'rinsed' the hairspray out with the denatured alcohol and without letting it dry, threw it in the tub with some Woolite. I let it sit for about an hour, agitating occasionally, and finally rinsed a few times and hung it out to dry.

 

I repeated this entire process three times and here is the result -- the ink is still there, but VERY faded and I'm so pleased. I think two or three more cycles of this process and the ink should be totally gone, or close to it.

 

Most importantly, the jacket still retains all of its color, fading, stains, etc. so I have not sacrificed any of the great griminess that we all love on these pieces of combat gear. I was willing to accept that I might ruin the jacket, but luckily things worked out. I do not have any real experience with fabrics or chemicals other than removing lacquer, super glue, etc out of my own clothes, so I figured I could handle it and it turned out alright. Just be careful if you try this on your own…if you do not have denatured alcohol, I think isopropyl will work just fine. I can't guarantee that this will work for you, but it worked for me and the results were great, so I can only recommend it!

 

Before:

 

After:

 

Rob

[knd643]

From the picture you cant even tell was there!!! Great method.

[David D]

That's a good idea and the end results are great.

 

-Dave