My SO and I just enjoyed a lovely meal at Dojos in the village, and aside of having to rush home for fear of puking, everything went well. Apparently there was some chewing gum on the bottom of table, and of course it stuck to her skirt. I figure with removing it, the sooner the better, as attempting to remove it, say, a month from now, might pose a problem.
Here are the goods.
Looks like Wrigleys spearmint.
Skirt is 90% Rayon, 10% Nylon and can only be dry cleaned
What are some (free if possible) ways I could remove the gum with common household items?
Did you try freezing it?
Stick the skirt in the freezer overnight- probably on a plastic bag. Then try picking it off gently- it should break off in small peices. I’ve had this problem before and that did the trick for me- although my material was cotton.
I’m not sure it’s legal to post a URL here, but I did a Google Search on “Chewing gum removal” and several sites came up. The eighth one down was for some methods, rather than product sales.
I’d recommend freezing to get the majority of the gum off of the surface of the skirt, then getting it to a dry cleaner ASAP to get out the gum that’s undoubtedly embedded in the fibers of the material.
Whether or not you send the cleaning bill to the barf-inducing, unclean restaurant is up to you and the girlfriend.
Ice works well. Hold the ice on the gum till it is frozen. Use the dull side of a butter knive to gently scrape away the gum. Scrunching the frozen gum will break the gum into smaller pieces that are easier to remove.
Read that on Hints to Heloise a few days ago and she agreed it is an effective way to remove gum.
I also would see if a dry cleaner could get it off but for carpet we use peanut butter. It is the oil that make it soft and with some blotting it does a nice job.
Good suggestions, thanks. Looks like we’ll try freezing, and if unsuccessful, we’ll hoof it over to the dry cleaner tomorrow. In defense of Dojos, my stomach was upset before eating, and I incorrectly hoped that some food would calm it down.
Toddly, that is without a doubt the craziest thing I ever heard. Back when I was 5 years old, that is.
You’d be amazed how well peanut butter works. It got a big wad of gum out of my hair after it got stuck while I was taking a nap. Embarassing, yes, but way better than a haircut.
LISA: Waaah! Augh. There’s gum in my hair! Mom! Someone threw gum in my hair!
MARGE: The trick to getting out gum… is peanut butter! There. Now that gum should lift right out. Hmmm… maybe it needs a little Mayonnaise to get going. Okay, you go sit in the sun and let it melt in.
Put the skirt in the freezer overnight. The frozen gum should come off easily. Then take it to a dry cleaner to remove any further residue. Don’t use peanut butter on clothing, you’ll just have another stain to remove
Peanut butter is a bad idea for fabric. It’s okay for hair, but if you used PB on the skirt, you may remove the gum, but then you have to worry about a big oil stain from the peanut butter.
Talk about a coincidence: just yesterday the woman who cuts my hair was showing me photos of her nephew who had fallen asleep with his head on some silly putty. Not only did it get in his hair, it sort of glued his head to the pillow! She used peanut butter to get the stuff out of his hair…says it works every time.
You can post a url. There are rules against advertising, but not against linking, especially in a case like this. Just so long as the url doesn’t link to porn, you should be ok.
