Felt-tip pens provide brightly coloured fun for kids, but they also leave stains on clothes, fabrics, carpets and furniture. However, there are ways you can make these stains disappear.

1

Clothes

An old remedy for removing felt-tip stains from washable clothing is to rub the stain with cold milk for several minutes with a sponge or cloth before machine washing at a 40 degrees Celsius with detergent.

2

Fabrics

For fabrics that are not machine-washable, a solution is to dab the stain with methylated spirits or grease solvent, and then wash in cold water. If the stain is more stubborn, try dripping a few drops of soap-free detergent onto the stain, rubbing in, waiting for ten minutes and then rinsing.

3

Wood

To remove felt-tip pen marks from wood, prepare a thick paste using bicarbonate of soda and water. Rub the paste onto the stain, leave for a couple of minutes. Then rub it off with a paper towel. The stain should be gone. Non-oily hairspray can also be used for this task; simply spray on and rub with a paper towel.

  • To remove felt-tip pen marks from wood, prepare a thick paste using bicarbonate of soda and water.