How to Remove Hardened Candle Wax From Fabrics

If you go to all the trouble of setting up a beautiful table complete with lit candles, it would be a shame to see it ruined with candle wax on your tablecloth. But these things happen, just as easily as you can drag a drooping sleeve through that wax puddle as you pass a dish. If you have a waxy mess to clean from almost any type of cloth material, you can use this system to make it as good as new.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wax-stained cloth
• Paper towels
• Clothes iron
• Ironing board
• Washing machine and dryer
• Laundry detergent

1. Allow the wax to harden completely on the fabric you want to clean. Once it has hardened, set up your ironing board and put the fabric material on top. Plug in the iron and allow it to heat up to a medium setting.

2. Fold a paper towel twice so that it is a small square that is four layers thick. Place the paper towel directly over the wax stain.

3. Lightly iron over the paper towel, moving the iron back and forth swiftly, for about 30 seconds. Then lift the iron off and look under the paper towel. If the wax has started to melt and a portion of the wax has absorbed into the paper towel, quickly fold another paper towel and continue ironing over the fresh one. If the wax has not started absorbing into the paper towel, lay the paper towel back down and iron for another 20 or 30 seconds.

4. Continue ironing and checking the paper towels every 30 seconds or so. Every time you start to see wax absorbing into the paper towel, replace it with a new one. Continue this process until most or all of the wax has been removed from the fabric.

5. Transfer the fabric to a washing machine and wash it per the instructions on the label. Do not treat the wax stain with any special stain-fighting agents before washing it, because these chemicals may coat the wax particles and make them harder to wash away. Ideally, you'll want to wash the fabric in at least warm water.

Tips & Warnings

• If the wax stain is very thick, you may be able to scrape the majority of the wax off before you begin by using a butter knife, credit card or your fingernail.
• Do not wash fabrics that are labeled for dry clean only.
• If you attempt this technique on silk or any other fabric that may be sensitive to ironing, use a cooler iron setting and iron with extreme caution. You may also want to use several layers of whole, flat paper towels so that the iron's edge doesn't extend beyond the borders of the paper towels and scorch the fabric.