How to get Paint out of Clothes
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Don’t throw it out! Learn how to get paint out of clothes, so you don’t have to throw your favorite piece in the trash.
We’ve been in the middle of working on our family room makeover, that I told you about a few months ago. We decided to wait until the holidays were over to really get started.
As soon as the Christmas tree came down, we got to painting. I finally decided on Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray and couldn’t be happier!!
It’s the perfect gray paint color! I can’t wait to share some pictures of the progress soon.
During the painting, my husband happened to walk thru the room with his favorite coat on and brushed a corner with fresh paint……and you guessed it, he ended up with paint on the sleeve.
How does that always happen?! It’s not just him.. I know I’ve done it myself more times than I care to admit. You think you’re being so careful…
You should have seen the disappointment on his face when he told me about it – after it was dry.
I told him, no worries, I know a little trick that should get dry paint out of clothes, and since the jacket was machine washable, it should come right out!
This method is 99% effective, and is worth a try! Since you already have paint on the garment, you don’t have much left to lose, right?
It’s definitely worth the effort, I promise!
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Paint can be removed from clothes, especially if you act quickly. I’m going to explain how to remove water-based paint from clothes that can be machine washed.
Table of Contents
How to get paint out of clothes:
Supplies:
All you need is an old cloth, 91% Isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol, you can get at the drug store or Amazon) and a brush (I used an old toothbrush).
What To Do First:
Act As Fast As Possible: Try to follow the steps below as soon as possible, because once the paint dries, it can become more difficult to remove. If you are not able to treat it quickly, try to keep the paint stain wet until you can treat it properly.
Remove Excess Paint Before Treating: Use a spoon or flat side of a table knife to scrape excess paint from the fabric. Working from the back of the fabric, flush the stain under warm running water. Or blot stain with a clean rag to absorb as much of the remaining paint that you can from the fabric.
IF Paint Has Dried: Use a spoon, dull table knife or hard bristled brush to scrape away as much paint as you can from the fabric.
Now that you’ve gathered what you need and scraped away what you can, you’re ready to get down to business. Don’t worry, you’ve got this!
Steps to remove paint from clothing:
Use a wet cloth to get the area with the paint wet – it doesn’t need to be soaking wet, just dab it with the wet cloth until the fabric is wet.
Saturate the paint stain with Isopropyl alcohol
Use your brush to scrub until the paint is no longer visible. (if needed, add a little more alcohol while scrubbing) you will see the paint break down and crumble.
Place garment in the washer and launder according to the label.
That’s it!!
It should look as good as new!
Remember, unexpected painting accidents don’t have to mean disaster. As long as you act quickly and follow the instructions on the garment care tag, these handy tips should help you remove paint from your favorite clothes in no time at all.
I’m a big fan of anything that will save clothes and money. Especially when they’re a favorite jacket or sweatshirt!
He’s a happy man again!……and you get a little sneak peek at my beautiful gray walls! 😉
UPDATE:
See how the perfect gray paint looks in our home!
Transitioning to Spring in the Family Room
It’s been four years since we painted the family room and I still love the color!! See all the updates to our family room decor by clicking the image below.
Like this tip on How to Get Paint Out of Clothes? PIN IT!
Happy painting!
Hi there, I'm Cheryl!
As a wife, mom, and caffeine enthusiast, my journey has taken me from bustling mornings with my family to sharing delicious recipes, home care tips, and heartfelt decorating insights with wonderful readers like you. My love for baking, photography, and tidiness shines through every post I craft. Dive into my world and discover the art of homemaking, one tidy moment at a time. Read more...
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I always wanted to know how to do this! Thanks for the great tip, Cheryl!
Yay!!! 🙂 Thank You!!! I wish I’d had this when I brushed up against a painted table with my favorite black dress pants.
Like you said, Since you already have paint on the garment, you don’t have much left to lose. So true and will be worth the try.
Thanks again, JaG
Awesome tip! Wish I had known this years ago!!!
Thank you!!! Perfect timing … I’m painting tomorrow! Pinned!
They are remodeling my husband’s office and he got paint on his favorite dress shirt this morning. I’ll be trying this tonight. Great timing on this trick!
Wow. That’s is a fantastic tip, Cheryl!
I’ve tried this method several times and is works pretty well UNLESS the paint has been left for a long period of time. Then, it might or might not come out. Mixed results but I guess if you leave something for a long time, who cares? LOL
lol right! I didn’t get to this jacket for about a week.
I”m so glad you shared this. I’ve ruined an item or 2 with paint. Now it doesn’t have to go to the trash. I wonder how this works on carpet….
i haven’t tried that – but let me know if you do!
Cheryl, I need this post! I just ruined a sweater I’ve only had for a few weeks and I was seriously about to toss. Your post was destined for me this morning. hahah Thanks girl. Stay warm!
Great timing for me also as I had gotten a drip of paint on a long sleeved t-shirt my daughter had given me from the college she is currently attending and it was a favorite shirt. Now, any ideas how to get grease spots out of carpet?
You just saved my 3 yr olds favorite dress! Thank you! She’ll be one happy girl again!
Awesome tip!! Do you know how many shirts, shorts, pants, etc., that we have thrown away because of paint? It’s sickening especially since we are always painting it seems. My husband likes to change things up every year. Last year we bought new living room furniture so I didn’t have to paint…yay!! Thanks so much for this tip!!! Pinning 🙂
I wore my new leather jacket to Home Depot and got paint on it OFF A BASKET when I leaned over to pet a dog riding in it! Will this work on leather???
I’m so trying this tonight. I’ve got paint splats on an old quilt and didn’t know how to get it cleaned.
Your hubby looks happy.
This is such a great tip, Cheryl! I wish I had known about this years ago… PS- I love Coventry Gray! I have it in my dining room 😉 Good luck with the reno!
Fantastic tip, Cheryl! Does it work with both acrylic and oil-based paints?
as far as I know, just acrylic
Any suggestions for removing wood stain from fabric?
The stain is on the bottom of my Coach purse. It’s very special to me because it was a gift from my son. I emailed Coach and went to two stores but they couldn’t help me. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Have you taken to a good quality paint store or contacted a marine company that is involved in staining of boats…stains are like paints…water base or oil base…and I do believe that in the past I have heard their is a product that removes stain…I am curious how a wood stain ended up on the fabric…I have left projects swearing I didn’t bump into anything only to be “surprised” as go how many spots I had on me…good luck
Toni…thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try a paint store.
I had essential oil in my purse. It leaked out, went through the purse and removed the stain on my table top. It’s a pretty big stain on the bottom of my purse. Won’t do that again!
Thanks again,
Joanne
Does this work on oil base paint…That’s where I run into trouble…love all the tips that you offer…have a great day
Thanks for the tip!
The wall color looks great!
What a great tip! I actually have a pair of shorts to try this out on! I’d love it if you’d share this at my link party, going on now!
Awesome tip! I get paint on my clothes ALL the time! Now I don’t have to keep them as junk clothes anymore! YAY!
Thanks, Cheryl! Both my husband and our son have dried paint on varied pieces of clothing! I plan to use your tip when I get the chance to work on their paint stains!
I am an artist by trade and hobby. I own my own business where I do a little of everything from woodworking to painting to sewing. I have painted since I was a small child and while I normally have sets of clothes that I wear that are safe for getting all kinds of paint on, there are always those times you get paint where you don’t want it! I also teach a lot of classes in my professional life and my students of all ages even when I tell them please don’t wear nice clothes to class will always manage to get something on them! This will help me give them a method to get the paint from their clothes! Thanks so much for sharing this! I will be using it this week in a class on Wednesday! Oh, one other thing, all of these people mentioning throwing things away that have a little paint on them. There are a lot of people out there that need clothing very badly and will wear it as is or like me know some way of doing something else with it like making something new. Just because it has a little paint splattered on it doesn’t make it something you have to trash! Consider donating it to your local Goodwill store! Someone in the world somewhere will have something good to use it for! Just a thought! I am a BIG person for recycling and hate to see good fabric go in the trash!
Wow, very simple way, thanks for sharing.
Will it work on leather?
like fake leather
Thank you Sooo much! I came home with some new paint I wanted to try, so instead of taking the time to change clothes, I dove right in with my best jeans, since I was ONLY painting a small table and I was ONLY going to paint on one swipe, AND I was using chalk paint, which is a lot thicker than regular acrylic. Two coats of paint later… I look down and there are spots all over my favorite pants (surprise, surprise)! No need to panic, because I already had this pinned, tried it today and it worked! THANKS AGAIN : )
Thank you, thank you! This worked on my daughter’a jacket tonight.
So happy!
Success! One of my favourite skirts saved. Thank you!
It worked great on my track suit.
So excited! My son got paint on his heavy fleece on a work trip, and it came right out! Thanks.
@Joanne Make your own solution for wood stain stains! 2 parts peroxide and 1 part BLUE dawn dish soap! It took my wood stain stains right out of my carpet! If you are confused, search pinterest for “best stain remover” and you should see it pop up somewhere!
Yeah! There is hope for my brand new skirt! I teach elementary art and one of my students dropped his paint brush on my brand new skirt!
Thank you for this! I got acrylic paint on my brand new shirt and I was so sad. I found your website and went through the steps and the paint is gone! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This was fantastically easy, and that’s coming from a male college student who isn’t quite able to fold his own laundry. I just salvaged 120 dollars of clothes, thanks a ton!
so good to know as I do paint lots of crafts and often get paint on my shirt or pants! thanks for the great tip!
A lot of paint had dried on the arm of my favorite
sweater. I tried your idea today (with the 91%
alcohol), and it worked perfectly. Thank you
so much.
Thank you so very much! My son got paint on a nice pair of slacks and asked me how to get it out, I of course went to the internet,and found you article!! I’m going to surprise him with his paint free pants..I’m sure he’ll be very happy and wear those pants to church on Sunday!!! Thank you..
Do you know if this method of paint removal will work for upholstery? We dripped paint on our couch and it’s been there for awhile now. Yikes!
Thanks Alot
I just used this method to remove aqua chalk paint from a white linen blouse and it worked! I couldn’t believe how easily it came out!
Thank you so much! I accidentally got paint on a new shirt when I was checking out the end tables I was redoing! Fingers crossed it works! 🙂
Thank you! Saved my husbands work shirt. Didn’t want to throw it out because it had customised embroidery. Now I don’t have to. Much appreciated. 🙂
WOW! Amazing and amazingly easy! Thank you so much.
Thanks for the tip! I had a North Face jacket with paint on it and it came out beautifully!!! I will pass this on!
I just tired this on a spot that happened 4+ years ago. The jacket has been washed several times since and I had given up hope of ever getting out the paint. Well, it worked! I am beyond excited to have the jacket back I my wardrobe!
YAY!!
“thru” “beautiful gray walls” “?” Either this was written by a suburban white mom or an 8 year old.
someone got up on the crabby side of the bed today.
Through and thru are different spellings of the same word.
Gray and grey are different spellings of the same word, and both are used throughout the English-speaking world
Hope you’re day gets better……….
“Thru” is not the correct spelling, it’s the informal spelling, which is most often used by adolescents and white stay at home moms that try to stay young. Not sure what his issue with gray is, but he has a point with thru. It’s the same as “u” for “you” and “ur” for “you’re,” these things used to be unacceptable in the adult world, but thanks to the huge drop of intelligence of the species, things things are becoming acceptable. The fact that hangry is in the Oxford Dictionary is quite depressing. /endrant
Thank you so much for the tip Lady! Keep doing what you are doing. The world we live in never ceases to disgust me…morals have reached an all time low…the same individual who is a critisizing you, is on your page looking for advice ???? thanks again for the tip
and of course my email reply bounced back because you used a fake email.
My son leaned against an oxidized door at the school in his brands new soccer jersey. will this work on that to? i am desperate.
Either this comment was written by a grumpy, nasty, ungrateful person or…nope, just the one explanation. How’s that snide negativity working out for you? Did it get the paint out of your clothes OK?
I just read these comments and thought: Wow! I was looking for a tip, not an English lesson. “Thru” is used in many types of English literature. If you are looking for some good tips, you came to the right place. If you are The Grammar Police, you googled wrong. You rock, TIDYMOM!
Through and thru are both spelled correctly. In formal writing (which I do not consider this site or most sites / blogs of this nature to be) through is most certainly the de-facto standard. With that said, there are valid reasons to use thru in informal writing, such as the example being complained about. The author of the site is communicating a cleaning tip, which based upon some commentary, provides real value. The authors tip in no way was or is compromised by the use of thru versus through, thus it is safe to say she has effectively used (the reader [her audience] can understand her meaning) this form or variation of the word in the context of what I consider a non-formal written communication. Now for the use of the word gray versus grey, both are acceptable however, gray is favored in the USA and grey throughout the United Kingdom and perhaps elsewhere. Additionally, if you are struggling with depression, as one individual mentioned) please seek help and I mean that with all seriousness. One should realize if focusing in on a word or how people use said word causes or contributes to ones depression, perhaps there is a larger issue that should be examined. Finally, Cheryl, of Tidy Mom, thank you for your suggestion, it is exactly what I was searching for and I hope that I will have the same positive results as some of your other users have had.
I TRIED THIS AND IT WORKED GREAT.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE TIP.
You rock!
Are you really a mom or is there a social media wizard behind this blog?
An irresponsible housepainter got paint on a nice dress hanging in my closet – this worked!
Does this work on silk to
I have never tried it on silk.