Ink on new dress... VENTING!!! I need some pity...lol

[D L and K's Mom]

I need a pity party as my DH thinks I am nuts. I am a teacher. One of my students came in with the most beautiful dress....light blue toile, smocked top, little rosebuds..just beautiful. I told her mother that I wished I had a daughter small enough to wear the dress because I loved it so much. Well, I found out I was pregnant a few months later (BIG HUGE SURPRISE). As a shower gift she had the dress dry cleaned and gave it to me! That was 6 years ago. My DD is finally old enough to wear the dress. She wore it to her Mother's Day Tea at school. All the Moms were invited and the dress looked beautiful!!! The children were told to "wear their best" . At 4:00 DD gets off the bus and the dress has a huge black stain on the front. DD tells me it is ink from Art. Mr. X had them use INK for a project and then when they cleaned it up they played a game called pass the sponge and one of her classmates got a bit excited and threw the sponge instead of passing it. I have tried everything to get it out. Dry cleaning, hair spray, rubbing alcohol, bleach pen carefully dabbed on the white backround...stain is still there. I want to throw ink at Mr. X. I am so irritated . I never care if DD gets dirty at school. I know kids play hard. This was a special occasion and I figured all the children were dressed up, they were asked to dress up. DD has a smock but she can't remember if she had it on.......oh well. I just wanted to vent. I just walked upstairs and the dress is on a hanger stalking me in the laundry room. I need to give to goodwill. I may need therapy to get over this....I think I may have even already posted this lol, yup I need therapy!

 

[ksjayhawks]

Sorry that this has happened--not the best choice to use ink when they are all dressed up!

I use powdered dishwasher detergent to get out mud and grasstains--not sure if that would work. Have you tried oxyclean? I always have luck with cheap hairspray (has to be the cheap stuff) on ink stains.

 

[tonilea]

If you know anyone who uses Melaluca (or maybe you could get some off ebay) try Sol-u-mel.

 

[LuvOrlando]

DId you try Oxyclean yet? The only things it has noot been able to get out are chocolate, old sweat stains and black mulch stains. It tends to work best as it dries so make it into a paste, leave it on a bit, then rinse and see what happens as it dries. If you can't get it out what about covering it with some beadwork or ribbon of some kind? Do you have any seamstresses near you? A good one can do magic

 

[luvmy3]

Try Grandma's Secret Spot Remover, you can find it at ACMoore. It has been a life, I mean laundry saver in my house

 

[Luv Bunnies]

How about dyeing the dress a slightly darker color? If it has decorations on it, you could possibly remove them and sew them back on after its dyed. If that won't work, I think another poster had a good idea of putting some kind of decorative element over the stain.

 

[pooh17]

I 2nd oxyclean! It took black ink out of a white cotton shirt for me recently. I used the stuff in a spray bottle. It took several applications and gentle scrubbing with my fingernail to push the ink out, but it worked!

Good luck!

 

[irish dancer]

Oh I am so sorry for you, I know I would feel the exact same way!

Reminds me of my niece's First Communion dress........My mom and sister had made all the nieces dresses and offered to make her dress too. They used a beautiful white raw silk. Then my sister embroidered small lavender flowers around the neckline with silk ribbon. (My niece's name is Heather and purple was her favorite color) It was a really beautiful dress. At the party my mom and sister asked her to please wear a cover-up when eating so she would mess the dress, they even provided one. Well, my DBro and DSil did not follow through and she dropped mostoccoli (sp?) right down the front of the dress. I thought my mom and sister were going to have a stroke! They had spent many hours on the dress and I don't think the stain ever came out.

If the hairspray didn't work then it's probably not ball point pen ink. I too recommend trying Oxiclean. I make a paste out of the Oxiclean and detergent, apply it to the dampened stain and let sit. Don't leave it on too long though as it could take the color completely out of the dress. I have gotten chocolate and perspiration stains out this way.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Binnie]

This will sound strange, but try Murphy's oil soap. It works wonders on ink with a little scrubbing... DD got dry erase markers all over several articles of clothing not too long ago, and it worked perfectly!

Another option would be denatured alcohol (not isopropyl), which works nicely on ball point ink.

Good luck! I know how awful it can be to lose an outfit to stains. I feel like my laundry is a chemistry experiement most weeks!

 

[fraggle551]

My boyfriend is a mechanic and his mother told me she uses Lestoil to get all his grease stains out, and it works perfectly. If it gets out dirty grease, it can probably get out ink! Good luck.

 

[mom2aandj]

I have had some luck with Carbona's stain devil for Ink. They are little yellow bottles and my grocery store sells them with the regular detergent.
Stain Devil Ink Remover
SKU: 00182362 - This spot remover removes ball point pen, crayon, felt tip pen, pencil and roller ball ink.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

I have had some luck with Carbona's stain devil for Ink. They are little yellow bottles and my grocery store sells them with the regular detergent.
Stain Devil Ink Remover
SKU: 00182362 - This spot remover removes ball point pen, crayon, felt tip pen, pencil and roller ball ink.

I'll second this suggestion. I used this to remove pen from an almost brand new outfit and it worked perfectly!

 

[laurie31]

Oh wow, I feel your pain! I would be devastated!!

It's easy to say in hindsight that she should have had something to change into, but I wouldn't have thought of that, especially if the school SAID for them to dress up for the occasion. Six is too young to think to wear a cover-up in art, but the teacher should have seen what she was wearing and told her to put one on.

When DD was 12, she was in a wedding, and wore a GORGEOUS (and expensive) ivory dress. I wanted to keep it forever. She spilled grape juice (PURPLE grape juice!) down the front at the reception. I was sure it was ruined. I took it to the dry cleaner I used for preserving my wedding gown. It wasn't cheap, but they got that stain out. I had to sign something saying I wouldn't hold them liable if the dress was ruined by cleaning it, but shoot, the dress was ALREADY ruined. I had nothing to lose.

Maybe you can find a cleaner that specializes in evening wear/elicate fabrics that might be able to get the stain out.