How To Remove Sticker Residue From Clothes: Easiest Hack Ever
I’ve been meaning to write this super easy hack for a while, but just never got to it until tonight. As I was folding laundry I see this HUGE sticker (well, what was a sticker) from the museum firmly attached to my daughter’s shirt. Oy! Thankfully, with a bit of duct tape and some patience I know how to remove sticker residue from clothes and now YOU DO TOO!
Before I get into the super easy steps, there are two things I do want to call out.
What FABRICS DOES THIS WORK WITH?
I use this hack on cotton and cotton blend clothing only! No dry cleaning only or delicate fabrics like silk, wool, or cashmere. In the case of those delicates, I would leave the removal to the dry cleaners. Since my kids are usually the ones with the stickers or the adults with the occasional museum sticker, we don’t have a lot of delicate fabrics with this issue.
CAN I USE ANY TYPE OF TAPE TO REMOVE STICKER RESIDUE?
I have used painter’s tape, packing tape, and even scotch tape for this hack. Although they all work to some degree, duct tape is by far quicker and more successful in getting any type of sticker residue off. Any brand of duct tape also seems to work, so don’t worry if you don’t have the Duct Tape brand tape (I think I have 3M this time). One last thing to mention about tape. Please do NOT use Gorilla tape! I do love that tape for certain projects for its unbelievable stickiness and strength, but that stickiness does not help here. It can sometimes actually make things worse.
Ok, now that we’ve got the details out of the way, onto this awesome hack!!
Remove Sticker Residue From Clothes
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- Duct Tape
1. Before removing the sticker residue make sure that the piece of clothes is completely dry, so the tape sticks to the residue well. Set it on a flat surface or other sturdy surface. (SIDE NOTE: This sticker was actually a huge circle and I removed over half of it before it occurred to me to take pictures for you guys. Oops! Oh well!)
2. Rip off a piece of duct tape from the roll. It should be no bigger than your hand, so it’s easy to manage. You can always grab a second piece (I used 3).
3. Firmly press the duct tape into a part of the sticker. I like to run my finger or nail over the part of the sticker its covering to make sure its securely attached to the residue. (TIP: Don’t try to cover the whole sticker at once because its generally too much to remove all at once.)
4. Holding the fabric down, firmly pull the tape off of the fabric. Notice that some of the residue should now be on the tape.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with parts of the tape that don’t have residue on it until the sticker residue is completely removed. Note, you may have to use several pieces of tape and it does take a bit of time depending on the size of the sticker and amount of residue stuck on there.
Finally, your shirt, or whatever piece of clothes, is back to normal. Hopefully this simple hack will help and it uses something you already have in your house. Let’s face it! Stickers are fun and sometimes you just forget to take them off before they make their way to the laundry. No sense getting stressed when its easy to undo!