How To Remove Melted Crayon From Fabric Naturally

A couple Sunday’s ago I was feeling all happy with myself as I had gotten pretty much the whole house cleaned and laundry done, and even made it to getting the girls bedding washed.  As is often with motherhood, my feeling of being on top of the world quickly changed to T-Rex mom in about 2 seconds when I realized one of my girls must have had crayons stuck in the corners of her sheets that I did not notice until after I took them out of the dryer!  It was bad guys, melted crayon had seeped well into the fabric everywhere.  To top it off, we use the Beddy’s bedding at our house (which we truly love) which is a sheet/comforter combo so it was not just a simple sheet set that was ruined, it was an expensive whole bedding set!  Well luckily we had some guests over at the time so I couldn’t completely lose my cool and I simply made the bed with the discolored bedding and decided to tend to it the next morning. 

After doing some research on the internet I came across a few suggestions of using dish soap to remove the stain so this is what I started with.  I was pretty unsure if it would work because of the degree that the crayon had melted into the fabric but I decided to give it a go. In fact, I was so unsure of if it would work that I didn’t take many “Before” photos to show what a true mess this bedding was! As you are probably starting to gather now, it did in fact work very well and I even added a few laundry tricks of my own at the end to give me even better results. I am in fact shocked with how it all ended up after rewashing it again so I decided that I must share for any of you fellow mamas out there that find yourselves in the same boat. I will add that everything I used was non toxic and “natural” but if you are looking for even better results (as in no trace left behind), I am sure that adding some Oxi-Clean or Bleach (for white bedding) would be able to add a bit more stain removal to this. And the biggest lesson we have learned in all of this (mostly me LOL) is CHECK THE BEDDING BEFORE WASHING… you never know what may be hiding in there!!

BEFORE - Melted crayon literally everywhere across the sheets! Melted and saturated into the fabric. After researching I came up with a method to naturally remove it, and it was so easy!

DURING - This was the progress that was made while applying the method for removing the melted crayon from the fabric that I outline below. Not perfect, but already a large improvement after only 5 minutes!

AFTER - After washing and drying the sheets again, there is almost NO sign of the melted crayon! Some small spots remain but I am very happy with this natural, no bleach method of removing the crayon stains from the sheets!

Steps To Naturally Removing (Melted) Crayon From Fabric

1 - Run a washcloth under very warm/hot water and wring out but leave cloth still fairly damp.

2 - Using a bottle of liquid dish soap, place a small amount on the cloth and then place enough on the soiled areas to saturate the fabric.

3 - Using your damp washcloth begin to vigorously rub the stained areas and you should begin to see the color disappearing. As your cloth begins to become less wet run it under warm water again and continue scrubbing the fabric, adding more dish soap as needed.

4 - Once you are satisfied with the amount of crayon/color you were able to remove with this method you will then want to place the garment/sheets/fabric in the washing machine and pour some very hot water + vinegar over the stained areas and leave it to soak in the washing machine for 30 minutes (do not turn washing machine on).

5 - Place a few drops of dish soap in with your typical amount of laundry detergent and wash items on a “heavy soiled” setting on the hottest temperature setting.

6 - Prior to placing in the dryer, inspect the item carefully for any stained areas still present. If any areas are still visible you can repeat steps 1-5 or alternatively you can try using Oxi Clean or Bleach (although these are not considered “natural” or non toxic, they may be able to help with stubborn stains although I personally did not find it necessary in my situation).

Check out the video at the bottom to see how this whole process unfolded!

And that is it, pretty easy right!!?? Now, can someone give me a how-to guide on stopping sibling whining and fighting please😉 ?

Want more cleaning tips? Check out more of my DIY Cleaning recipes for natural alternatives to a clean home and life!