How to get ink out of clothes

Identify the ink and the fabric first

Ballpoint ink, the kind in most office pens, is a thick, oily paste of dye that water barely touches. It responds well to rubbing alcohol, which is why alcohol is the standard first step in the American Cleaning Institute and university extension guides. Gel and rollerball pens use a thinner, water based ink, some of it made with pigment particles rather than dye. These often loosen with cold water and detergent, then alcohol if needed. Felt tip markers behave more like a dye stain, and Iowa State University Extension treats them with detergent and a soak in color safe oxygen bleach.

Permanent marker and India ink sit at the far end. The University of Georgia Extension describes permanent inks as almost impossible to remove, and the American Cleaning Institute warns that some ballpoint, felt tip and liquid inks cannot be removed at all. That is worth knowing before you spend an evening on a stain that was never going to move.

Then read the care label. Cotton, linen, polyester and most blends tolerate alcohol well. Acetate and triacetate, common in linings and some dressy blouses, are damaged by acetone, so nail polish remover is out. The Georgia guide also cautions that alcohol should be diluted on acrylic. Silk, wool and anything marked dry clean only belong in the last section of this guide. If a symbol puzzles you, our guide to reading laundry symbols will help.

How to get ink out of clothes with rubbing alcohol

You need ordinary rubbing alcohol from the medicine cabinet, cotton pads or a clean white cloth, and a stack of paper towels. Work on a hard surface you do not mind marking, because ink will come through. Rubbing alcohol is flammable, so open a window, keep it away from candles, gas burners and cigarettes, and rinse it out of the fabric before the garment goes anywhere near a dryer.

1. 01

   Test on a hidden spot

   Dab a little alcohol on an inside seam or hem allowance, wait a minute and press with a white cloth. If color comes off on the cloth, alcohol will strip the dye as well as the ink. Stop and see a cleaner instead.

2. 02

   Set up an absorbent pad

   Lay the stain face down on a thick fold of paper towel. The ink will travel out of the fabric into the towel rather than spreading into the rest of the garment.

3. 03

   Apply alcohol to the back of the stain

   Dab alcohol onto the back of the ink with a cotton pad, pressing firmly rather than rubbing. You should see the ink appear on the towel underneath. Cornell Cooperative Extension describes the same method: change the pad as it picks up the stain and press hard each time.

4. 04

   Move to a clean patch and repeat

   Shift the fabric to fresh towel every time the towel shows a print of the stain, and keep going until no more ink transfers. This can take ten minutes or more for a big ballpoint mark. The American Cleaning Institute offers an alternative: stretch the fabric over a jar and drip alcohol through the stain so the ink drops into the jar.

5. 05

   Rinse, pretreat and wash

   Rinse the area with water, rub in a little liquid laundry detergent and let it sit for a few minutes. Then wash as the care label allows.

6. 06

   Inspect before drying

   Look at the spot while the garment is still wet. If a shadow remains, repeat the alcohol and detergent steps. Dryer heat makes remaining ink much harder to shift, so air dry until you are satisfied.

How to remove pen ink from clothes after drying or washing

Ink that has simply dried on the fabric is still worth treating with the alcohol method, because alcohol dissolves dried ballpoint ink just as it does fresh. Expect more rounds and more towels. If alcohol stalls, Cornell Cooperative Extension lists lukewarm glycerin, sold in drugstores, for ballpoint stains: work it into the ink, blot, keep the spot moist with it while the ink keeps releasing, then rinse and apply a mild detergent solution before washing.

A stain that went through a full wash and a hot dryer is a harder case, but not always a lost one. Treat it exactly as above and check the result before drying again. If the ink has faded to a gray outline and will not move, the dye has probably bonded to the fiber, and more solvent will only weaken the fabric around it.

When a pen leaks in the machine, it rarely marks just one piece. Separate every item with spots, treat each one before it sees the dryer, and look inside the drum and around the door seal for ink before the next load goes in; our guide to cleaning a washing machine shows where residue hides. Anything left there can transfer to clean laundry.

White shirts and colored clothes

White cotton gives you the most options. Once the alcohol has removed as much ink as it will, a wash with chlorine bleach where the label permits it can clear the last faint trace. Cornell and the American Cleaning Institute both keep bleach as the final step, after solvents have done the heavy lifting, never the first. Our guide to washing white clothes explains how to use bleach without yellowing the fabric.

Colored clothes are more delicate here, because the same solvents that dissolve ink can loosen the garment's own dye. The University of Georgia Extension notes that alcohol can remove fabric dye, which is why the hidden seam test matters more on a navy shirt than on a white one. On colors, skip chlorine bleach entirely and stop if you see the fabric around the stain start to look lighter or blotchy.

Silk, wool, leather and dry clean only pieces

Silk and wool are easily damaged by the aggressive steps in most ink methods: ammonia damages both, according to the Georgia guide, and Cornell rules out chlorine bleach on silk, wool and spandex. On these fabrics the most you should do is blot away any wet ink with a dry white cloth. Resist the urge to experiment, because a solvent ring on silk is often more visible than the original dot of ink. See our guide on washing silk for what the fabric does tolerate.

Take dry clean only garments, tailored jackets, silk ties and leather to a professional cleaner, and do it before the ink has time to set. Tell them what kind of pen it was and whether you tried anything. A cleaner has solvents and spotting tools that are not sold for home use. Leather in particular needs its own approach, covered in our guide to cleaning a leather jacket.