How Do I Get the Smell Out of My T-Shirt?
Over time, anyone can end up with a t-shirt that smells bad and resists your attempts to get the smell out of it. The smell can occur because of excessive sweat, the odor of food or the specific smells of the workplace. If the smells don’t come out when the t-shirt is washed with the rest of the laundry, there are several ways to get rid of the offensive smell.
One of the easiest things to do is to hang the t-shirt on a clothesline outdoors to try to rid it of the smell. If you don’t have one, simply hang the shirt over your patio or balcony railing and let the fresh in their blow through your t-shirt. This can go a long way toward giving the t-shirt a fresher smell. Once you have done this, there may be some lingering odors left. If so, you’ll need to soak the t-shirt in something that will lift the odor from the fabric. Using a regular, scented laundry detergent will not necessarily remove the odor. Often, detergents just work to mask the odor with a new fragrance rather than ridding the t-shirt of it. So, when the detergent fragrance wears off, the bad odor is left behind. There are several substances that will rid the t-shirt of its odor without simply masking it.
Vinegar is a good rinse for a t-shirt that smells. You can use vinegar to soak the t-shirt for a few minutes before washing it in the laundry, or you can add a little bit of vinegar to the laundry detergent in the washer. Vinegar is extremely efficient at stripping odors from fabric. It may end up with a vinegar smell afterward, and the t-shirt may need to be washed again after the vinegar has done its work.
Baking soda is another great substance that can be used to pull the smell from a t-shirt. When mixed with water, it can be used as a presoak for your t-shirt. The shirt should be soaked in a solution for about half an hour and then put into the laundry as usual. Another way to use baking soda is to add a cup of it into the laundry along with the detergent. This can be extremely effective at removing foul odors from laundry.
Another method is to use a fabric softener to absorb the odor. To do this, take the t-shirt and one or two fabric softener sheets, depending on how bad the odor of the t-shirt is, and seal them together in a plastic bag. Keep the t-shirt in the bag with the softeners for two weeks. Once you remove the t-shirt, the fabrics softener sheets will have absorbed most, if not all, of the odor from the t-shirt. If there is any odor left in the shirt, try this method again with brand-new fabric softener sheets. After two weeks, you’ll be left with a sweet smelling t-shirt that has not simply been masked with a fragrance. The offensive odor will actually have been absorbed by the sheets.
How to Remove Condiments From Your T-Shirt
Condiments are items that can mean a lot of trouble for clothing because of their very nature. They are generally both drippy and thick, and because of this they often end up on t-shirts as well as other articles of clothing. One of the main problems with condiments, however, is that they are brightly colored and therefore can be difficult to get out of fabric.
Mustard and ketchup are generally the most commonly used condiments, and because they are fairly thin, it’s easy to stain t-shirts with drops of mustard and ketchup. Other condiments such as hot sauce and pickle relish can also create very difficult stains and t-shirts. When you first get a stain from one of these condiments, start blotting them away from the t-shirt as quickly as you can. Use whatever you have on hand such as a napkin or paper towel. If there is a lot of the condiment on your shirt, start with a butter knife to scrape it away from the t-shirt. Get as much of it away from the t-shirt you can before you attempt to treat the fabric.
Take off the t-shirt and put it under cold running water. Make sure the water is running directly through the stain. Don’t use a trickle of water - make sure the water is running swiftly ordered to power of the stain out of the fabric. If the condiment stain is fairly fresh, the cold water should take much of it out of the t-shirt. Rub the fabric together under the cold running water in order to force more of the condiment out of the fabric. If it is a fresh stain and this method gets most of the condiment out of the T-shirt, you can then soak it in cold water for a while. Simply fill up the sink with cold water, put the t-shirt in there and push it down to the bottom to make sure that air bubbles don’t force the t-shirt to the surface. The entire t-shirt needs to stay under the water for best results.
Soaking a new condiment stain in cold water should remove the stain completely and the t-shirt can then be washed in the laundry with other clothing. Use cold water and a strong detergent to make sure all of the stain is out of your t-shirt. For white t-shirts, put a little bit of bleach into the wash with the t-shirt. For colored t-shirts, use color-safe bleach only. Don’t use a detergent that contains ammonia or you may cause the stain to set into the fabric permanently.
If you’re condiment stain is very old, it may take a professional to get it out completely. You can try a pre-treating stick or spray and letting it soak into the condiment stain before washing the shirt. If it still doesn’t come out, there are home dry-cleaning kits that may work better. If these also fail, take the t-shirt to a reliable dry cleaner can ask whether they can remove condiment stains.
How to Remove Candle Wax From a T-Shirt or Clothing
Candle wax spilled on t-shirt may seem like it would be impossible to remove. It ruins the look of the t-shirt, and it even changes its texture of the shirt in the area were it was spilled. You may think that your t-shirt is now beyond repair, but there are several methods of getting the wax off a t-shirt. If you can get any of the wax off while it is still pliant and warm, take off as much as you can. This can be difficult however, because as soon as the wax is cool enough to handle it will get stiff very quickly. Once the wax is hardened there are two main methods of getting the wax out. One way to do it is to use heat and the other is to use cold.
If you take the t-shirt and put it in the freezer for an hour or two, the cold will freeze the wax. Once the wax is frozen, you can break it much the way you would break glass. If the wax is very thick, use a hammer to break it up into pieces and then discard the pieces. If it is thinner, rolling the frozen portion of the shirt should break the wax up and make it easier to get rid of the frozen pieces.
The other primary way of getting rid of wax on a t-shirt is to use heat. You can use heat by placing the t-shirt into boiling water to loosen the wax. This will heat the wax enough to make it make it liquid again and it should float to the top of the pot of water. When this happens, skim the liquid wax from the top of the water to keep it from settling back on the shirt once you take the shirt from the water. Once the water has cooled, pour out the water and check t-shirt for any remaining wax once it is cool enough to touch. It may need to be boiled again or at a higher temperature if there is still wax left on the shirt.
Another way to use heat is to turn the t-shirt inside out, put sheets of newspaper inside the shirt and lay the shirt and newspapers flat. Then, take a hot iron and iron the t-shirt. Don’t use the steam setting for this method- only heat. The iron will melt the wax which will then be soaked up by the newspaper. Using an old towel instead of a newspaper will also work for this method.
If you try any of these methods and still can’t get the very smallest pieces of wax out of the fibers, you can use a needle to dislodge those pieces. This is often easier if the wax has been frozen first. Then, simply sit and push the tiny parts of wax out of the fabric with the needle. This is painstaking work, however, and it’s easier to try to get the wax out with the other methods.
How to Clean a Chocolate Stain From a T-Shirt
Chocolate can be a very difficult thing to get out of t-shirt. It is sticky and thick, making it easy for chocolate to attach itself to fabric. Unless it is removed properly, chocolate can ruin a t-shirt. But with a little effort, it is possible to get all of the chocolate out of your t-shirt.
Once chocolate is spilled on a y-shirt, it’s important to quickly remove as much as possible. You may need to scrape away some the chocolate to remove it from the fabric. To do this, use a brush to scrub away as much chocolate as possible. Use a scrub brush or tooth brush to scrub the fabric in just one direction rather than back and forth. This will minimize the amount of damage that can occur to the fabric. This will lift away some of the chocolate. To keep it away from your t-shirt, press a cotton cloth into the stain to take away the chocolate you have lifted out.
Once you get the excess chocolate out of the fabric, you’ll need to get the rest of it out. To do this, you will need a strong cleaner that can lift the stain away from the fibers. Washing powder is a good, neutralizing substance that can be extremely good for moving this type of stain. You can make a paste out of equal parts of water and washing powder. Press this mixture into the fabric and brush it into the fibers. Then, let the mixture sit and soak into the fabric. This will allow the washing powder to separate the chocolate from the fibers.
When this is completed, wash away the mixture with very cold water. Using hot water can set the stain if any chocolate is left behind. Once you have washed in cold water, try a pre-treating stain solution if any chocolate has remained behind. Let that solution sits on the t-shirt for as long as the directions indicate. Then, wash it in the laundry as usual.
If the chocolate spills on a white t-shirt, it is much easier to remove the chocolate stain. Simply use a small amount of bleach directly on the t-shirt to remove the stain. Using a small amount that is applied with a cotton swab will keep you from applying too much bleach. Bleach can weaken fabrics, so it’s best to use as little as possible. Use the cotton swab to paint the bleach all over the stain. Allow the T-shirt to sit for at least 15 minutes in order to let the bleach do its work.
Check on the t-shirt periodically to make sure it that the stain is fading. You may need to add slightly more bleach if any chocolate remains on the shirt. Once the chocolate stain has faded, rinse the bleached area in cold water and wash the t-shirt in the laundry on cold. If you have used bleach, be sure to wash your t-shirt only with other whites to avoid bleaching the other clothing.
How Do You Get Vaseline (petroleum jelly) Out of a T-Shirt?
Vaseline is a thick, oily substance that can leave any t-shirt with an oil stain even after it’s been washed several times. This may make you want to throw out your t-shirt in frustration, but there are ways to get rid of the Vaseline stain and to make a t-shirt look as good as it did before.
The first step in removing the Vaseline is to remove the part of it that is not entwined with the fabric. Use a butter knife, spoon or other stiff, dull surface to scrape the Vaseline off the t-shirt. After this is done, much of the Vaseline will be removed. The oil that is left behind must be washed out of the fabric.
One reason that washing a t-shirt does not get Vaseline out is that normal dishwashing detergent is simply not effective against something that oily. To get the grease out of the fabric, you need something specially formulated to remove grease. One of the least expensive ways to do this is to buy a dishwashing detergent like Dawn. By using liquid Dawn, you can lift the grease out of the fabric before washing it in regular detergent.
To do this, rub a little bit of Dawn into the grease spot. The amount of liquid that you use will depend on the size of the stain. Rub the fabric back and forth, getting the detergent deep into the fabric. Once you’ve done this, let the t-shirt sit for a few minutes to allow the detergent to soak through. Rinse the Dawn out of the fabric with hot water. Then, run the t-shirt through the laundry in hot water. If this does not remove all of the Vaseline, repeat the process to remove the rest of it.
In addition to Dawn, there are a few other products that are made to remove oil and grease. Shout makes a pre-treating product that is used in much the same way as Dawn. Simply apply it to the stain, rub it into the fabric and let it sit for a while before washing.
WD-40 is another product that some people have used with success remove Vaseline. It can be used as a pre-treatment just before you use Dawn detergent on the t-shirt. Some people find that this allows the Dawn to remove more of the Vaseline from the t-shirt. After using the WD-40 followed by the Dawn, wash the t-shirt in hot water.
Another method is to use isopropyl alcohol to dry out the oil and to allow it to be washed away from the fabric. Also known as rubbing alcohol, this substance will immediately start to break the oil down, allowing you to rinse it away. To use isopropyl alcohol, pour a little bit of alcohol over the stain and rub the fabric together. Once you have done this, run water through the fabric to lift out the oil. If there is some oil left still left on the t-shirt, repeat the process. The t-shirt can then be washed in the laundry.
How to Get Ink Stains Out of Your T-Shirt
An ink stain is immediately noticeable on most colors of t-shirts. It can ruin the look of a t-shirt, but regular laundry detergent may not get the ink stain out of the fabric. And if it does, it may only fade the stain instead of getting rid of it completely. There are other ways that ink stains can be removed from a shirt without causing any damage to the t-shirt and without leaving any of the unsightly ink behind.
One of the tricks that many women use for removing ink from fabric is to use hairspray. This is a simple technique that can be used by anyone- male or female. To use this method, lay the t-shirt flat and spray the hairspray generously on the ink spot. Let the hairspray soak into the fabric for a few moments. If the stain is large or the ink has been particularly stubborn, let it soak for several minutes.
Once the hairspray has had soaking time, run the ink stain under cold water. Rub the fabric back and forth under the water and you should see the ink come right out of the fabric. If the stain is large, put the shirt in the laundry instead of running it under the sink. The ink should come out without leaving a trace behind. If you tend to get ink stains on your clothing, keep a little hairspray in the house even if you don’t use it on your hair.
If you don’t have hairspray on hand or you have a very stubborn ink stain, there are alternatives. Some inks, such as from permanent pens and markers, won’t respond as well to the hairspray treatment. If the t-shirt is white, there are several methods that can be tried. A bleach pen can be used to treat the stained area with a small, concentrated dose of bleach.
To use one of these, place the t-shirt flat against a hard surface that can’t be stained by the bleach. The end of the bleach pen is that dabbed along the ink stain to release drops of bleach directly onto the stain. The bleach should be left to soak into the fabric for at least 10 minutes. After that, either rinse the t-shirt thoroughly in the sink or put it into a washing machine and wash normally. If you use a washing machine, however, only wash the shirt with other white clothing or you will ruin the other items in the load.
If you don’t have a bleach pen or the stain has resisted all other treatments, you can also try washing the t-shirt with bleach in the wash. This, like the bleach pen, only works with white t-shirts. To do this, use a small amount of bleach in the washing machine and put the t-shirt in along with any other stained white articles of clothing. This should pull any other type of color, including the ink, out of the shirt. After running the load, however, run a quick empty load to wash away any remaining bleach from the machine before washing colored clothing again.
What to Do If You Spill Bleach on Your Colored T-Shirt
Have you had an accident with bleach? Spilling bleach on a colored T-shirt may seem like a death sentence for that T-shirt. You may be tempted to throw it out because you don’t see any other way to fix the T-shirt and create something that is wearable again. And if you do choose to go that route, you still have something that you can use when you don’t want to throw it out. You have a T-shirt that is one that you can use to sleep in, to do messy chores in, or to wash the car in. You might even use it to clean certain household objects that need a soft touch such as eyeglass lenses.
However, if you are not resigned to using the T-shirt for any of these purposes, there are still a few things you can do to save the T-shirt and to be able to wear it out in public again. One of the most obvious things that can be done in this situation is to simply bleach the rest of the T-shirt so that the entire shirt will match. You can do this by soaking the T-shirt in a tub with water and bleach, or you can wash the T-shirt by itself or with a load of white laundry with bleach. The bleach will turn the entire T-shirt white. It will not look the same as the T-shirt did before you spilled the bleach on it, but it will be a T-shirt that is all one color and very wearable and it will still fit the same as it did before.
If you don’t want the T-shirt to become a white T-shirt, there are a couple of options. If the T-shirt color was originally light, you might be able to dye the entire T-shirt and to end up with the same T-shirt in a darker shade. The darker color will ensure that the entire T-shirt is dyed the color. Trying to dye the T-shirt a lighter color will clash with the original color and create a mottled look.
If you are determined to keep the T-shirt all one color but you don’t want it to the bleach completely white, there is another option. You can began with the T-shirt that has a bleach stain and continue bleach it until the entire T-shirt is white. Make sure to rinse that T-shirt very thoroughly before attempting the next step. Once it has been rinsed and all the bleach has been removed, you can dye it a different color. Because the entire T-shirt is white, is a blank canvas that is just waiting to accept a new color. When you do this, you can choose any color at all. You can pick a pastel or another light color, or you can try to find a fabric dye that very closely matches the original color of the T-shirt. This will get you back your T-shirt the way it was before you had the bleach accident, or it will at least get it to a shade that is very much like it.
How to Remove Ballpoint Pen Ink From Your T-Shirt
Using a ballpoint pen is an integrated part of everyone’s daily life. However, using a ballpoint regularly means that eventually some of the ink from that pen will make it onto the clothing that you wear. When this occurs, there are several way that the ink can be taken out of the fabric in order for a cleaner, more attractive article of clothing.
Because t-shirts are made from cotton, the ink is easily absorbed into the t-shirt. But, cotton is also easy to wash and it’s possible to get just about any stain out of it. Ballpoint pen ink is generally fairly easy to wash out of a garment. If you want to get the ink out quickly and easily, try washing it along with the other laundry as usual. Use a fast washing speed to make sure to get out as much ink as possible.
After the washing machine cycle is over, take out the t-shirt and check it thoroughly. If there are still any signs of the ink on the t-shirt, either wash it again or find another method to get rid of the ballpoint ink. Don’t put it into a dryer yet, as this will set the remaining ink into the fabric and make it much more difficult to wash the ink out.
Try to remove the ink by hand if the washing machine isn’t effective. This can by done by putting the ink-stained portion of the t-shirt under hot water and letting the water run through the stain for a few minutes. This should loosen up the remaining ink from the fabric. If it doesn’t, try rubbing the ink-stained area back and forth against itself while holding it under the running hot water. After a minute or two, the ink should have disappeared.
Sometimes using some type of soap can help the stain to come out of the fabric faster. You might try a little bit of liquid laundry detergent while using this rubbing method. Liquid hand soap or liquid dishwashing detergent has also been known to help with this type of ink stain.
If the ink stain is older and you’re still having trouble getting it out, try spraying a little hairspray on the stain. Let het hairspray sit on the stain for a few minutes and then try the rubbing method to get it out of the t-shirt. Then, just wash the t-shirt as you normally would in order to get the hairspray out of the fabric.
With a white t-shirt, using a little bit of nail polish remover can also be effective. It is a strong substance, however, and it can stain even a white t-shirt if too much is used. If the ink stain is on a white shirt, using a small amount of bleach from a bleach pen should take out any ink that has remained from the other methods. A bleach pen lets you to apply bleach with precision and to avoid having to wash the entire garment with it.
How to Keep T-Shirts and Clothes Looking New
Most articles of clothing including t-shirts look their best when they are brand new. Keeping the look of new clothing is one of the biggest struggles of clothing care. There are some washing and drying techniques that make clothing wear out far quicker than if the clothing is treated with other washing and drying techniques.
One of the harshest things that can be done to laundry is to use an electric drier. These age clothing faster than just about anything else that can be done to it. To keep clothing looking newer for far longer, use other drying techniques if possible. Using a dryer does make clothing feel softer but it strips it of many of the fibers of the clothing. If you’ve ever noticed the lint that comes out of a dryer lint trap, you’ve seen where those fibers end up. That lint is largely small particles of the clothing that was dried in the machine.
If you want to bypass the dryer, using an old-fashioned drying line can dry clothing quickly and without wearing out the fabric. If you have bright colors drying, be sure to put the line in the shade. Bright sunlight can cause colors to fade more quickly. This will make the drying process take longer, but the clothing will eventually dry in the fresh air.
Another way to keep t-shirts and clothing looking newer longer is to use cold water to wash the clothes. Hot water is a harsh way to wash clothes and can lead to fading of the colors and for the fabric to ball up into the pills that can form on cotton. Use cold water whenever possible to wash your clothing. There are times when clothing is so dirty or has so many odors that washing it in cold water won’t solve the problems. In those cases, try warm water instead of hot. You might also try alternating between using cold water and hot water on each load of laundry. This cuts in half the number of times that the clothing is washed in hot water while still giving it a deep cleaning every other time.
Harsh detergents are another problem with keeping clothing looking new. The detergents that we use may be effective, but they can also cause some damage to clothing and fade the colors. Using the gentlest detergents possible, that still get out the dirt and odor, will keep the clothing looking better. If the clothing is not getting clean by using a gentler detergent, try a pre-treatment regimen first before using the gentler detergent.
If possible, don’t use bleach to clean the clothes. There are of course times when only bleach will remove a stain. But, on everyday loads, don’t include bleach in the wash. It causes fabric to wear thin far more quickly than a regular detergent. After just a few washes in bleach, a thin fabric may develop holes. If you do use bleach, use it as a spot-treatment if possible instead of adding it to the wash.
How to Remove Coffee Stains on Your T-Shirt
Coffee stains are one of the most dreaded of all laundry stains. The dark color of coffee and the deep pigments in the liquid can make it tough to get coffee stains out of a t-shirt, particularly when the t-shirt is colored.
To have the best chance of getting the coffee out of the fabric, treat the stain right away. Don’t hesitate to start getting the coffee out of the t-shirt as soon as the spill happens. Take the t-shirt off as quickly as possible in order to be able to treat the stain quickly. The stain will be a lot easier to treat if it is treated quickly. If too much time has passed, it may not be possible to remove much of the coffee stain without using bleach on the t-shirt.
To start treating the t-shirt, get as much of the liquid out of the fabric as possible. If the spill was large, wring the t-shirt out several times to get the coffee out of it. If the spill was smaller, press a towel, or napkins or whatever you may have into the stained area. Keep doing this until you aren’t able to remove any more of the liquid.
Once you’ve done this, turn the t-shirt inside out and run cold water through the stained part of the t-shirt. If the entire t-shirt has been stained, squeeze and wring the t-shirt repeatedly under cold running water. However large the stain is, rub the fabric together under the water to get the stain out more quickly. Continue doing this until no more of the coffee is running out of the fabric with the water.
Use a pre-treating spray or rub on the stained area of the t-shirt. This pre-treating solution should be used on the entire stained area. Pay particular attention to the edges of the stain. These edges may be darker than the rest of the stain because of the way the coffee was moving along the fabric. Let the stained area soak in the pre-treatment solution for as long as the directions indicate. Once the soaking time is completed, wash the t-shirt in hot water. If the coffee stain was treated quickly, this should lift the remaining coffee out of the fabric. This process will give a colored t-shirt its best chance of beating the stain.
If the t-shirt is white, there are a few additional options that can be used that would alter the color of a colored t-shirt. The main principle of treating this type of dark stain on a white t-shirt is to simply strip all of the color out of the t-shirt. This can be done easily by washing the t-shirt with chlorine bleach, but it may weaken the fabric to do so. The best approach is to blot away the liquid and then rinse the t-shirt as you would with a colored t-shirt. Then, allow the stained area to soak in bleach for a few minutes. After that, rinse away the bleach and launder the t-shirt in hot water. If the bleach soak doesn’t remove the stain, try a bleach pen or soak the t-shirt for a longer period of time before washing it.