What's the best way to remove a grease stain and a pen mark from a down coat?
November 21, 2011 2:54 AM   Subscribe

What's the best way to remove a small grease stain and a pen mark from a down coat?

I finally bought a lovely down coat yesterday, then managed to get both stains on it today. Can I use dishwashing liquid for the grease? What about the pen mark?
posted by krisken to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Hairspray usually works for regular ink, spray on a paper towel and rub gently at the stain. You may want to test the hairspray's own staining ability on an interior spot first.
posted by jaimystery at 4:21 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Grease: use kitchen sick soap. Luke the one to wash dishes, it cuts grease in pans... Small amount
posted by femmme at 5:13 AM on November 21, 2011


Whoopsi. Kitchen sink soap, dime size amount. Sorry
posted by femmme at 5:14 AM on November 21, 2011


Sprinkle cornstarch on the grease spot and let it sit for a few hours to absorb the grease. I'd try cornstarch before dish soap, personally.
posted by mchorn at 5:22 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Yes, try cornstarch or any fine powder (I use baby powder) or even flour will work in a pinch. Let it sit on it for a while, brush off and then wash. This works for me with all kinds of grease. I'd avoid getting it wet at all before using the powder to absorb the grease. Unfortunately I've never had luck getting ink stains out. I've heard the hairspray thing, but it never worked, I never really understood exactly what you're supposed to do, or how it would remove ink.
posted by catatethebird at 5:57 AM on November 21, 2011


If cornstarch doesn't get all the grease, a tiny(depending on grease spot, 5 or so drops) amount of Dawn dish soap removes grease well. Rub it in with an equally tiny amount of water, let it sit for an hour. And hairspray is the canonical recommendation for ballpoint pen ink. Read the directions for washing the coat 1st. Dry cleaning works, too, but is expensive, bad for the environment, and not always recommended by the manufacturer. For the home version, there's a product called Dryel, which I haven't tried.
posted by theora55 at 6:14 AM on November 21, 2011


Oh, and dry the coat by hanging it or on a rack. If you didn't get the stains out, the dryer heat may set them.

Fyi, hairspray combines alcohol(solvent) and laquer(keeps the solvent in 1 place).
posted by theora55 at 6:16 AM on November 21, 2011


I've used WD-40 as an ink solvent to successfully remove stains on clothes (a jacket) before.
posted by empyrean at 12:50 PM on November 21, 2011


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