I have a fairly bizarre clothes cleaning situation:
I was recently sitting on a beat up old couch, where the upholstery was torn in places. As such, some tape-like substance was exposed, and I sat upon it. After I got up, I noticed that the back of my jeans was now sticky as well (in the way that the surface you remove a sticker from becomes sticky). I can’t seem to clean it off, and was looking for suggestions. Would something like Goo-gone work? Or would it damage the clothing?
Boy, I think Goo Gone would be too harsh to use on fabric without either weakening or bleaching the cloth (or both). Test it out on a rag or something before you use it on your clothing.
You might have some success with peanut butter. That tends to break down sticky stuff and make it easier to scrub out. You can also soak it in an Oxyclean solution for an hour or two before washing. I’ve had good luck with that.
Try CRC Cleaner & Degreaser
http://shop.sailnet.com/product_info.php/cPath/66/products_id/2804?osCsid=c3cc39bd7d51aa56f457f643cdec1407
NOT WD-40 or brake cleaner
My Mom and I use it as a “quickie dry-cleaner” to get the spots off all kinds of her expensive clothes without harm. I will dissolve tape adhesive.
Should be available at your local hardware store.
Try peanut butter. Just rub it in, let it stand for a few minutes, then launder. It works great on most adhesives that I’ve run into except rubber cement, but that doesn’t stay sticky.
Thanks for the replies, everyone! I’m trying the peanut butter thing as we speak – if that doesn’t work, I’ll move to Enola’s CRC suggestion. Wish me luck - we’re talking about one of my favorite pairs of jeans here 
I used Goo Gone last summer to get chewing gum off a pair of cotton/poly twill pants. Worked fine and did no damage. (However the pants were very pale in color, so if there was very slight bleaching it could go unnoticed.) I tested the stuff on a hidden area first, just as the instructions tell you to.
I tried the peanut butter thing, and it seems to have worked (won’t know for sure until the jeans are done drying), except that even after laundering, they still smell slightly of peanuts
Well, if you go to the zoo this weekend, stay away from the elephants.
Ooh! Problem sovled! Now get to work, you. 
Dammit! I suck.
I’ve never had any problem with Goo Gone on fabric. It’s safe enough to use on skin.
A couple of weeks ago, I used it on pants that got tree sap on them - just saturated the spots with Goo Gone, let it sit for about ten minutes, then into the wash. It all came out and there were no spots or damage to the fabric.
I just realized that I was thinking of Goof Off, not Goo Gone. I get those names confused a lot, eventhough I use both!