How to Remove Tempera Paint From Clothing

Children often use tempera paint for crafts or to color on poster board, but this paint can stain clothing. To remove it from clothing, you might need to try several times. For best results, attempt to remove the stain before the paint dries. After that, stain removal becomes much more difficult.

Things You'll Need

• Stained clothing
• Sponge
• Water
• Laundry detergent
• Color-safe bleach
• Chlorine bleach
• Commercial color remover

Instructions

1. Soak a sponge in water and blot up as much of the stain as possible.

2. Take the piece of clothing to the dry cleaners if instructed by the label. Inform the dry cleaners of the tempera paint stain. For all other clothing, follow the remaining steps.

3. Cover the stain with laundry detergent and rub into the fabric. Rinse to see if the stain washes out. If most of the stain lifts from this, launder or hand wash the piece of clothing as usual.

4. For stubborn stains, soak the fabric in a solution of color-safe bleach and water. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for diluting the bleach, if required by the label. Before immersing the entire piece of clothing in the solution, test an unseen corner to prevent the fabric coloring from washing out. Remove the clothing, and check the stain after 15 minutes. Continue to soak if the stain remains, otherwise, launder as directed by the clothing label.

5. For all white fabrics, soak the whole piece in chlorine bleach diluted with water in a 50:50 solution. Place the entire article of clothing into the bleach to maintain an evenly white color. For colored fabrics, apply a commercial-grade color remover, but keep in mind that these also bleach the fabric area out. Wash the clothing according to the label after removing the stain with either of these solutions.

6. If all else fails, look for a way to wear the piece of clothing underneath something, cut the stained area off or simply purchase a replacement.

References

• Tempera Paint - Stain Solutions
• ArtLex on Stains