How To Remove Glue From Fabric? – Practical Tips

Many of us have tried to abolish glue stuck on our clothes. Some methods do work, while others seem ineffective. So, have you ever considered how to remove glue from fabric correctly?

Yes, there are various ways to get rid of this annoying glue from your clothes. But more importantly, you need to understand how each specific type of glue works first to find out the best way to handle it. Now, let’s get started!

Why Do You Need To Remove Glue From Fabric?

There are so many reasons why you need to eliminate glue from fabric immediately. First of all, glue stuck on your clothes will damage their materials. Undoubtedly, glue is made of chemical compounds, which can easily spoil your soft and sensitive fabric and reduce its quality.

Moreover, we’re sure that you don’t want your clothes to have ugly stains. Stains will make the clothes’ surface look bad. Therefore, getting rid of glue from clothes is so important to keep your clothes durable and fresh.

how to remove glue from fabric
How to remove glue from the fabric

Which Types of Glue Are The Most Stubborn On Fabric?

Commercial Adhesives

Commercial adhesives are one of the most stubborn to clean on your clothes and fabric. Because commercial adhesives have a high level of strong chemical compounds, it’s not surprising that they are extremely hard to remove.

It will take you long hours to eliminate this liquid from your clothes. Sometimes, you cannot completely abolish the stain as it may stick permanently. It is extremely unpleasant, and you may have to buy a new piece of fabric.

Nail Glue And Super Glue

Do you often get artificial nails? If you frequently do this, the nail glue will somehow tack on your clothes. The main active ingredient of nail glue is cyanoacrylate, which can affect almost instantly. When this attaches to clothes and carpets, you will need specific care to get it off.

Glitter Glue

Glitter Glue Contains Dyes And Glue
Glitter Glue Contains Dyes And Glue

DIY items will always be a good choice if you want to play with your children. Although you’re careful, glue can still stick on their clothes. Glitter glue is a combination of simple white glue, glitters, and colored pigments.

Therefore, handling glitter glue is not as difficult as others. However, the presence of pigments and glitter is pretty annoying because it can stain your clothes for a long time.

Rubber Cement

Rubber cement, or contact cement, is a neoprene rubber adhesive that gives a faster and more permanent bond than other adhesives. This glue works well on large surfaces and specific materials, such as rubbers, glass, and metals due to its effective ingredients. That’s why the stain on fabric is extremely challenging for you to remove.

Rubber Cement Is An Effective Glue
Rubber Cement Is An Effective Glue

Hot Glue

Hot glue guns and sticks are also stubborn adhesives because the hot resin can stain permanently. Furthermore, hot glue can destroy your fabric and decrease its high quality. So, dealing with hot glue is a tricky problem for all of us to keep our clothes undamaged.

A Hot Glue Gun

How To Remove Glue From Fabric?

There are so many ways to deal with glue stains in your clothing. Keep reading to figure out the best solution that works for you!

Scraping

Scraping is one of the easiest ways to get off the dried glue, as long as your fabric is not too delicate. It is effective to clean the cloth and leave it no stain. You can try this method by using a kitchen spoon.

First of all, make sure that the glue completely dries out before scraping. Then, you press the metal spoon from the outside edge of the glue and slowly scrape it by pulling the stain. Remember to use enough force to get rid of the bond. Excessive pressure can scratch your fabric.

Acetone

Acetone is a solvent that can dissolve the hardest stickiness. You often see it in nail polish remover to get off artificial nail glue and super glue. However, you need to be careful when using acetone to remove glue stains.

Not all fabrics are suitable to be treated with acetone. Therefore, you need to read the instructions on your goods before applying solvent carefully. This will help to prevent fabric discoloration and damage.

Acetone Is A Popular Remover
Acetone Is A Popular Remover

If your fabric goes well with solvent, you can apply acetone to it. You can test on a cotton item first by pouring a small amount of acetone nail remover. This will ensure that the acetone won’t discolor your materials.

Then, rub this cotton item full of acetone across the glue spot until it is washed away. Finally, clean your fabric with soap and cold water.

Water And Soap

After you get rid of superglue from your fabric by scraping or applying the acetone, it’s important to clean your clothing with water and soap. Soap and water are efficient solutions to remove glue residue.

Soap Helps To Eliminate Stains Quickly
Soap Helps To Eliminate Stains Quickly

Fully cover the fabric in cold water and let it soak overnight. Next, slowly pour a small amount of detergent directly on the glue spot.

You should scrape the soap into the glue spot to release its bond more easily. Then, hang the fabric in an airy space to avoid leftover stains.

Rubbing

Rubbing alcohol is a liquid solvent made of different chemical ingredients. It can dissolve a wide variety of sticky residues like glue. Moreover, it evaporates rapidly and leaves no oily traces.

This solution is perfect for abolishing super glue on many different materials. However, dry-cleaning-only fabrics might not be compatible with rubbing alcohol.

Be careful when using alcohol
Be careful when using alcohol

Alcohol can quickly damage your clothes and leave a worse surface. To ensure that this solvent does not affect the materials’ color, you should test on a small area.

Gently scrub the rubbing alcohol across the stain to weaken the adhesive. Then, wash the fabric with warm water and add detergent to get the stains off quickly.

Lighter Fluid

If those solutions don’t work well with glue on fabric, you should try a lighter fluid. While it is not a usual form of cleaning, it is still effective, especially for dealing with stubborn adhesive. Unfortunately, you cannot use this method for soft and sensitive fabrics. Otherwise, it will damage your items.

Lighter Fluid Works Well With Stubborn Glue
Lighter Fluid Works Well With Stubborn Glue

Spill a small amount of lighter fluid in a cotton pad and softly rub it onto the glue spot. Keep doing this step until the stain is gone, and soak it under warm water carefully.

You need to ensure that all solvents are washed off after removing the glue. If you leave any solvent trace, stains will come up. Then, add detergent to increase the cleaning process and hang it in a spacious place to get off the stains permanently.

Conclusion

Getting rid of adhesive on clothes is not an easy task. Moreover, it requires some understanding of the glue types to know how to remove glue from fabric efficiently. With all suggestions above, you will certainly find the best way to treat the annoying glue stains.