Dried Paint on Clothes

For a crafter, this might be one of the most unfortunate events imaginable! However, if you love shopping for new clothes, it might not be so terrible.

I have lost count of the number of shirts, pants, shorts, and shoes I've ruined with paint. I always think I'm being extremely cautious, only to discover that I'm completely mistaken.

A few weeks back, I was browsing through videos and stumbled upon one by Dustin Hadley, the 40-year-old with some fantastic content. He had a video about removing dried-on paint. Despite my efforts, I couldn't locate his video again, so I conducted some research and discovered numerous suggestions on Pinterest. Most recommended using a mix of Dawn, peroxide, stain remover, hair spray, a scraping tool, rubbing alcohol, and laundry soap.

So I set out on a mission to remove latex paint from one of my favorite pairs of leggings.

Here is the process I used:

Here is the paint stain, completely dried.

This is where I started, hair spray that contains alcohol and Dawn dish detergent.

I didn't take a photo prior to this one, but I added in peroxide and stain remover. After scrubbing vigorously with a toothbrush, I arrived here. It was better, but still obvious.

This is where I got annoyed and went with straight-up rubbing alcohol, and a new (Dollar Tree Firm toothbrush). I scrubbed, reapplied the alcohol, and scrubbed more.

It actually worked. Unfortunately, I don't know if I had started with the straight-up alcohol and nothing else, if this would have had the same result or not.

This photo was taken after the item went through the washing machine and was removed from the dryer, and the paint stain has been completely removed.

You might want to start with the alcohol, but be cautious since it could negatively impact the fabric. Personally, I wasn't too concerned about this possible problem; the pants were already ruined, so I thought it was worth attempting.