I have a black shirt with white on the sleeves. The black ran into white. How can I remove this on the white cotton material?
By gustafson from Danforth, ME
There is a product called Shout Color Catcher Sheets, available in the laundry aisle of the supermarket. Wash the shirt by itself with a few of them and if the shirt has not been through the dryer, the color should be gone. If it has been through the dryer, it may not work. Since the shirt is unwearable as is, give it a try. This product has worked for me.
One should never let the item dry out after the dye has spread. Contact Amway, they have 2 products you can use if you use it while it is still damp, and they really do a great job.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I washed my whites with a couple of light green cold wash items and all of my whites turned a dull yellowish color. How do I get my whites, white again?
By SJ
There is an old product called bluing. It doesn't damage clothes like bleach but it whitens whites (only whites). It is a little tricky since it stains stuff, so follow it's directions.
I washed a pair of my hubby's jeans with a burgundy cotton twill chair cover. The dye ran out of the cover unto the jeans; what a mess! I pulled the cover out and washed the jeans separately and they seemed OK so I put them in the dryer. When I removed them, his jeans are pinky blue. He is going to kill me since he just bought them.
By Jo-Ann from Sarnia, ON
I have no idea when your post was made, so this may be of no help for you. I've had good luck getting that accidental "pink" out of jeans by soaking them in barely warm bleach water in a bucket for a few minutes. It will require careful patience and up to about 30 minutes. The bleach works faster in hot water and it is very hard to gauge what is happening, warm water is much safer.
I did a load of clothes in cold water with both light and dark colors, but I had the Shout color catcher sheet in with the clothes. I had put my daughter's brand new pale pink pants in with blue shorts and some faded denim (not the first time for washing these) and the blue color ran on to the pink pants. Do I have to soak these overnight (as suggested already) or can I just try to wash the pants by themselves with the Shout color catcher and some color safe bleach right away? Will that work?
By Mary S.
If you can find RIT Dye Color Remover, it works great to remove color transferred from one item to another. I recently put a white shirt in the dryer with a red shirt (had washed them separately - so much for being frugal on using the dryer!) and other items for a very few minutes and some red was transferred to the white shirt. Oops! Then I remembered using Rit Dye Color Remover in the past. I didn't have any on hand.
After going to two grocery stores, I found one pack at AC Moore. I used the hot water in a pot method because I only had one item. It worked great. I would like to find more to keep on hand, but haven't run across another pack. I bought a box Shout Color Catcher to have in case I need them. As you probably know, don't put the item in the dryer until you get the unwanted color out. I felt very lucky to get the red out of my white shirt. Good luck to you.
This page contains the following solutions.
I accidentally ruined my daughter's favorite delicate light pink shirt. Somehow, I managed to get blue streaks of dye all over it. I tried stain remover, but the dye didn't budge.
First, soak the affected clothing item overnight or longer, in a solution of 1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent and enough warm water to cover the item. This also works well on stains.
Have the garment either dry and damp with cold water, rub in by hand methylated spirits, undiluted, rinse well in cold water, then wash as normal.
I usually do this one item by hand, but this particular day it got washed with delicates. It's a sheer blouse with a crocheted vest in front, it's off-white in color, at least it was. When it came out of the washer, the sheer netting at the bottom half was a light blue and the all over color had a blue hue, the crocheted vest had turned a white bluish. Is there any thing or way I can take it back to its original color without losing its original color?
By JoJo from Phoenix, AZ
Here in Australia, Dylon makes a product called Colour Run Remover, just put in wash with affected clothes and it removes all the unwanted dye; brilliant stuff!
In the US you should look for Rit Dyes products, they make a dye remover for natural and synthetic fabrics-check your blouse to find out what it's made with so that you get the right product.
My daughter has accidentally washed a white jacket with red towels. Now her jacket is blotched pink. How do I get the jacket back to white?
We had very good luck with Oxiclean getting red out of a white shirt. Soak the clothes in hot water and Oxiclean.
Susan from ThriftyFun
Rit dye remover works great.
I washed "hand wash only" dresses on the gentle cycle and tossed in a new dress, black and white tie-dyed, that was never washed before. It bled on all the dresses, really badly on an ombre pink colored tube dress and a pair of gauze material palazzo pants that are cream.
How do I get the black/grey streaks out? They are currently soaking in cool water with laundry detergent and vinegar. Please help.I had this happen a long time ago. Thank God you haven't dried them. Scrub each spot with a few drops of Dawn dish detergent. It takes a while but keep scrubbing and the spots will come out.
You might also look for a product from Rit that is supposed to work to take out dye transfered in the wash.
I wonder if some lovely lady is able to help me. I bought a dress which is black with white trim on the collar and on the leg of the dress. I used Colour Catcher sheets in the wash and the white parts have still turned grey. Is there anything I can use to either turn the grey bits of the dress back to white again or is there a way of turning the grey parts black so the whole dress will be black?
By kimberley26
If your efforts are not fruitful to return the grey parts to their white color, you could buy some white bias tape and cover the trim with that, or any similar white fabric would work, as well. If it is trimmed with larger pieces (perhaps even an entire collar or pocket), you may have to remove the trim and replace it, proceed according to your own sewing skills, or have a professional make these replacements.
Failing that, you can find fabric markers in department stores and fabric stores, and they come in black, generally, so you should be able to use one of those to cover all the white/grey trim with black color that way. It may take several applications to make a dark enough color, and to make it come out even, but you should be able to make it work. It may also require re-application after washing.
Finally, I would be tempted to just leave it and wear it as is, as who could tell it wasn't supposed to be grey in the first place (unless it is really uneven)?
Buy some Rit Dye and dye the entire dress black in a plastic tub. When you are done with the dye process, buy an applique at the fabric store and put it in an appropriate place or use some iron-on rhinestones.
I accidentally put my husband's white bowls shirt in the wash with a new black pair of pants. So now the white shirt is a nice shade of blue. How do I get it white again?
By Margaret S from Lal-Lal Australia
Can the shirt be bleached? If not, and his shirt has to be white right away, you'll probably need to buy him a new one. I once washed a white tablecloth with a dark burgundy one, and for a long time, I had a nice pearly pink tablecloth. Eventually, as I washed it, it faded back to white, but you'll probably wear the shirt out by washing it.
When my son changed jobs, from waiting tables to working in a bank, he had a bunch of white shirts from his waiter job. I dyed them all blue to give him new shirts for the bank, which saved him a lot of money. Maybe your husband can wear the "new" blue shirt for something else?
Boil lemon in water and then while still hot soak the shirt.
I've managed to dye my new cream coat, pink, in the washer. How do I get it back to cream? Will bleaching it turn it white? Help if you can please!
By Rachel
Try a product called Shout Color Catcher Sheets, available in the laundry aisle at the supermarket. Wash the coat by itself with 2-3 of the sheets. Let air dry. Repeat if needed. If the coat was dried in the dryer, the color may be set.
Since you probably don't want to wear the coat as is, this is worth a try. Another thing to try is soaking the coat in a solution of powdered dishwasher detergent and warm water. In a container large enough to submerge the coat in, (maybe your washer) fill with warm water, and mix in at least 2 cups of powdered dish washer detergent.
After the detergent is dissolved, soak the coat overnight. Rinse well, and let air dry. Again, if dryer dried, the color may be set. If you do not have a dishwasher, the el cheapo brand from the dollar store works well for this. Both of these methods have saved clothes for me. Hope one of them helps you with your coat.
I washed my daughter's new white jeans in alongside a pink face cloth. The jeans are pink. Please help, she is gonna kill me.
By Brenda
Rit brand makes a color remover. My husband turned my favorite sweatshirt pink once, and I washed it with the Rit color remover (making sure to follow directions), and my sweatshirt came out great!
On a night out I managed to ruin my favourite white tee. Long story short, I had a wristband on that bleeds when it gets wet; the wristband bled bright red dye all over my white shirt. Someone please help me! I've tried using strain remover, bi carb soda, vinegar, and a strain remover spray. The strain wont budge. Help!
By Cassie
1/4 cup bleach, hot water for a few minutes in a bucket. Keep an eye on it, so you don't forget and leave it too long. Should take between 5 and 20 minutes.
I washed some color clothes and I had a pink scarf in them. So now everything is pink. Is there any way to change them back? Especially my gray Bama sweatshirt!
To remove dye stains from your scarf or other clothing just add a few scoops of Oxi Clean to the wash water. It will get it all out.
I washed this greenish brownish jacket with some colored clothes, and the color from the jacket has bled onto my purple and blue bra, turning it a lime green color. I also have a gray pair of pants that got washed with this jacket and now have a brown tint to them. Is there any way to remove the color that has bled onto the bra and the pants?
By Randa from MO
Try washing just the bra and pants with several sheets of a product called Shout Color Catcher Sheets, available in the laundry aisle of the supermarket. The box says use 1, but I have found 3 seems to work better. Air dry the clothes, and repeat if needed. This product has saved several pieces of clothing for me. If you dried the items in the dryer, this may not work.
How do I remove the colour stains of another colour shirt?
By nityasri from R.A. Puram, Chennai
I don't know if you can get it in your area, but Rit has a product that will remove it. Hope you can find it there.
I have a fabric t-shirt with a printed logo. The logo is a red background with white letters saying 'obey'. The red background has stained the white letters. The logo is not fabric, it feels like paint not sure if iron on or painted on. Please help, the shirt cost $80and is from America. The shirt looks worse in person.
By Jenna
My teenage son washed his favorite 100% white cotton shirt with his new blue jeans in hot water. The shirt turned a light blue.
The blue dye in jeans is notorious for transferring to other clothing in the wash. It can be difficult to remove especially if the other clothing is not able to be bleached. This is a page about how to fix dye from jeans that transferred to other clothing in the wash.
