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Ballpoint ink. Tips to remove Ballpoint ink stains on clothes and fabric

Ink that is soluble, solvent, or ballpoint ink pen stains that are on your clothing or fabrics can be worked out. Use the following cleaning tips to get those ink stains out of your fabrics.

The first thing that you should do is take a cotton ball wet with alcohol and dab at the ink stained area. Be sure that you are not putting the alcohol on a surface under the fabric that will be damaged by the alcohol.

Turn the fabric around with the stain side down, and put the alcohol on the back of the stain so you are working the ink stain from both sides of the fabric.

After you have dabbed the alcohol on both sides of the ink stain, apply a liquid laundry detergent to the ink stain. Rub it in with your fingers or a soft scrub brush.

Rinse the fabric well in the hottest water allowed for the type of fabric that you are working with. Be sure to read the tag on the fabric for the most accurate information.

Repeat the above as needed to completely remove the ink stain. Remember do not dry the fabric in the dryer until you have worked out all of the stain.

Visitors comments

Thank you!!!! Comments By: Donna on 2004-09-14 I'm a nurse and I thought I had ruined a pair of scrub pants for work with an pretty bad ink stain. At first I was like oh well, there goes another, but your tip worked like a charm. You saved me money. Thanks.   SOS! - save our suite! Comments By: Julie on 2004-10-10 We have had out new suite just two weeks when my partner got a biro mark on it. A quick dab with neat vodka certainly seems to have done the trick. What a great tip.... I'll certainly be bookmarking this site for my partners little mishaps in the future.   Amazing. Like magic. Comments By: Anon on 2004-10-23 I was skeptical at first but this tip made the horrible black ink stain on my husband's crisp white shirt go away.   The duvet's cover is safe! Comments By: Toronto mother on 2004-12-13 After my 3 1/2 year old took a ball point pen to her duvet cover, I thought it would be permanently stained. After washing once with presoak and having no luck, I found this website. A good douse of rubbing alcohol and it was clean. I was skeptical and now I'm a covert. Thank you!   Oxyclean works too... Comments By: Joey on 2005-05-14 After getting ink on my Coach purse, I took it to numerous cleaners and found no luck. I brought it home and mixed 8oz. of hot water with 1/8 scoop of oxyclean and rubbed it with a toothbrush. It worked like a charm!   Works wonderfully! Comments By: Colorado mom on 2005-09-17 My 16-month-old daughter was playing with a pen that I didn't know she could click and wrote all over my brand new shirt. I was so worried that it would be ruined after only being worn a few hours. The ink came out completely using rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball! It was amazing! Thank you!   Couldn't believe it!! Comments By: Anon on 2006-12-07 I was taking a load of my sons laundry out of the dryer and saw a HUGE stain of ink all over his new cargo pants! The stains were marker stains. There was nothing else in the DRYER and I saw him put those pants in the laundry, so I am not sure how they got on. I was sure they were trashed. I did a search and found this site. I tried this technique and it worked!!! I was sure the stains were set, but I think the marker must have been water based. Anyway, thank you thank you thank you!!!!   Yup! It works Comments By: cer on 2008-01-01 I had a light blue pair of jeans with several dozen scattered marks from a ball point pen that I wear on a string from my work jacket (I won't do that again). Your tip is perfect. The marks are all gone.   Couldn't believe it worked! Comments By: Anon on 2008-03-18 My two year old wrote on my unholstered chairs with pen. I was skeptical but the alcohol made the pen evaporate before my eyes. Unbelievable!   UNBELIEVABLE Comments By: Anon on 2009-06-27 IT WORKS!!!! i thought my dress was ruined and am so thankful someone put this advice up here. IT WORKS!!!   yay Comments By: zain on 2009-11-03 u helped me in a test   Wow Comments By: Chani on 2010-05-09 It worked on a ball point pen mark on my husband's cotton T-shirt! I just used vodka, q tips, and regular stain remover/laundry detergent. Thank you!   phew! Comments By: Pat on 2010-06-19 Brand-new white slacks, dark blue ballpoint pen mark - maybe not a tragedy in the overall scheme of things, but a stress-inducing situation for me. Your tip was sooooo helpful - worked like a charm. Thanks!   Fantastic tip! Comments By: nicky p on 2011-02-14 Had a shirt that i thought was absolutely ruined, as my husband left a parker pen in the top pocket, and stained various other items in the load. Soaked it in Gin, and even the wrecked shirt came out with just one tiny spot on it, fantastic outcome!!!