Chalk paint is popular among DIY enthusiasts looking to refresh the furniture in their homes. When using paint, it’s easy to get color on your clothes accidentally. Discover how to get chalk paint out of clothes after finishing your next project.
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint started in 1990 to fill a hole in the market to create furniture and fabric paint that applied quickly. Chalk paint has a soft matte look that offers a chalk-like appearance and gives refurbished furniture a distressed look.
Chalk paint works well on furniture because of the aged appearance the paint gives once dry. As chalk paint became more popular, it moved beyond furniture as consumers began using it on walls, floors, and even metals.
How to Remove Chalk Paint from Clothes
One benefit of chalk paint over traditional oil based paints like spray paint is that it is latex paint, making it easier to prepare and use than regular paints. Latex paint comes out of clothes much easier than oil based paints, as well. As a water based paint, cleaning up chalk paint stains is more straightforward than getting oil paint off your hands and clothes.
It can often be tedious to take spray paint off clothing and clean other oil based paints. Water based paints can be much easier to work with.
Despite its name, chalk paint is very different from chalkboard paint or DIY sidewalk chalk paint. Although removing chalk paint or dark wax from your clothes is simple, it is possible to clean your clothes improperly and make the paint stain worse. Continue reading for advice on how to get chalk paint off of your clothes.
Using Soapy Water to Remove Chalk Paint from Clothes
Use a spoon to scrape wet paint and remove chalk or acrylic paint from your clothes. If you need to remove dried paint, flush the area by running warm water over the inside of the clothing. Rinsing or washing your clothes with water helps fade the color and preps the stain to clean with soap.
Combine the supplies in a bowl and mix until it bubbles. Wet a sponge in the soapy water before blotting at the stain. Continue to clean the area as the mixture begins to clean away the paint on the clothes.
Does Chalk Paint Come Out of Clothes with Detergent?
Despite the name, chalk paint does not contain chalk markers, so cleaning spills on your clothes isn’t as easy as removing a chalk stain. Luckily, compared to standard paints, you won’t need a paint stripper like the acetone from nail polish remover looking for suggestions on how to remove chalk paint from clothes.
Use a flat blade like a putty knife to scrape the excess paint from your clothes. Rinse the inside of your clothes where the paint stain is with warm water. Use paper towels to blot at the wet paint.
Mix laundry detergent and water in equal parts in a bowl. Blot the paint stain with a sponge before scrubbing away the paint with a clean cloth. When the stain is gone, wash your clothes before allowing the items to air dry.
Paint Removal After Washing
Removing chalk paint from clothing after taking it out of the wash is simple because most paint comes off during pretreatments or in the wash cycle. To remove lingering paint, use rubbing alcohol on the stain. Rubbing alcohol is a versatile household item that helps with disinfecting and cleaning.
Does chalk paint come out of clothes with rubbing alcohol? Soak a cloth with rubbing alcohol and turn your clothes inside out, pressing the cloth to the stain. Apply pressure to saturate the back of the paint before using an old toothbrush to get the alcohol into the fibers. Continue scrubbing until the paint lifts from your clothes, and rewash them.
How to Get Chalk Paint Out of Clothes
If you’re painting fabric and accidentally touch your clothes with a paint brush, working fast is the ideal way to get rid of the paint stain. Using hydrogen peroxide is an easy way to remove paint if running warm water across the color does not help remove the stain.
Apply hydrogen peroxide to the back of the stain, leaving it to sit for five minutes before scrubbing at the paint with a paper towel. Using hydrogen peroxide is helpful for stain removal if you’ve used food coloring to alter the tint of your chalk paint.
Vinegar can also be a powerful stain remover if you do not have hydrogen peroxide available. Vinegar removes paint from leather easily without fading colors on clothes, too. It is one of the best natural cleaning ingredients.
Does chalk paint come out of clothes easily? Your ability to remove paint from your clothes depends on how fast you work to remove the stain and the methods used to clean your clothing.
When working to remove chalk paint stains, avoid putting your clothes through the dryer until you’re sure all stains are gone. Applying direct heat to a stain seals the pigment into the fibers of your clothing and makes removing paint stains nearly impossible.
If you learned how to get chalk paint out of clothes with our advice, please share our tips on how to remove chalk paint from clothes with your fellow painters on Facebook and Pinterest.