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How to Get Dry Erase Marker Out of Clothes

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Got dry erase marker on some clothing or a piece of furniture? No worries! It’s not ruined! I’ll show you how to get dry erase marker out of clothes or other fabric easily!

How to Get Dry Erase Marker our of Clothes

I was chatting with one of my friends after church the other Sunday when my daughter came running over to tell me something.  As I turned to answer her, I was horrified to discover bright red spots of marker several places on the front of the cream colored sweater dress that she was wearing.

Apparently, she and some of her friends were playing in a side room and were using the Expo dry erase markers to draw on the whiteboard.  And bless her heart, she didn’t think about where all that marker went as she was moving around and her beautiful dress showed the results.

I know that often the longer a stain sets, the harder it is to treat.  So as soon as we got home, I got to work trying to figure out if there was any chance of saving the dress.  With little hope, I tried Fels Naptha, my favorite inexpensive stain treater that typically will remove almost any stain, but of course, it did nothing.

Then just in case, I also experimented with Shout and some Fuller Brush stain remover that I had on hand.  Neither did a thing.

Thankfully, one of my mom friends heard about the dilemma and came to my rescue!  Her daughter had recently gotten dry erase marker on their white couch, and after trying different things, she discovered that Murphy’s Oil Soap did the trick!

Who would have known, right?!  I figured if it did the trick on their white couch, then I had a pretty good chance of it working on my daughter’s sweater dress too.

And hurray, hurray!  It did the trick!  I could hardly believe it, but it removed every trace of dry erase marker on that dress.  It almost felt like I was performing a magic trick as I watched it lift it away from the fabric.

I didn’t think to take pictures of the process when I treated the original dress but decided to write on another dress with dry erase markers and show you how Murphy’s Oil took it out.  Because I’d love if I can help another person that feel desperate because they fear a piece of clothing (or a couch!) is ruined by dry erase marker!

How to Get Dry Erase Marker Out of Clothes

Remove Dry Erase Marker from Clothes
1.  You’ve probably already tried this, but before doing anything else, try seeing if scrubbing the marker stain with just water will remove any of the marker.  In this particular piece of clothing, a lot of the marker actually came out (probably because it was a washable dry erase marker).  What you see in the picture above is the only stain that was left.

But in the case of my daughter’s white sweater dress that I mentioned earlier, running it under water did nothing.  The stain didn’t even lighten slightly.

How to get dry erase markers out of clothes

2.  Dab a tiny bit of Murphy’s Oil Soap onto the marker stain and use your fingernail to gently rub it into the stain.   If you want, you can let it set a little bit to allow the soap to really penetrate the stain.

how to get dry erase marker off clothes

3.  Rinse well and if the stain is still visible at all. Repeat step 2 again.

With this dress, I only had to do two applications of Murphy’s Oil.  With the stain my daughter’s first dress, I had to do more like three or four on a couple of the dry erase marker stains before they were gone.

how to remove dry erase marker from clothes

4.  Wash as you normally would and enjoy feeling like a magician!  🙂

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Filed Under: Homemaking

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Comments

  1. Sarah Williams says

    January 20, 2019 at 4:43 PM

    This is a miracle! As a teacher I am always finding spots where kids have accidentally marked me with their dry erase markers. I tried the oil soap on a sweater that I received for Christmas and was marked the first day I wore to school. The stain is gone!!! I’d tried other things on previous articles of clothing but nothing had worked till now. Thanks for sharing this!!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      January 24, 2019 at 4:47 PM

      So happy that it helped save some clothing for you, Sarah! Thanks for letting me know!

      Reply
      • Gail says

        November 1, 2019 at 4:06 PM

        Does anyone know whether this will work on a pure wool sweater/ I have a favorite Irish Fisherman cable sweater and have dry erase marker on the underside of both arms because I rested them on a desktop where someone had put dry-erase marker and then wiped it down (but not enough). Now I have light navy shadows on both lower sleeves!

        Reply
        • ThriftyFrugalMom says

          November 2, 2019 at 4:46 PM

          I’m guessing it will work to remove the marker, Gail, but I don’t know how it will affect the wool since I know wool can be trickier to take care of. But what do you have to lose? I’m guessing you don’t want to wear the sweater if it has dry erase marker visible, so you might as well try the Murphy’s soap and see if it can at least be salvaged, right?

          Reply
  2. Nancy says

    March 24, 2019 at 3:05 PM

    Thank you! I had no luck with OxyClean, detergent, Tide stain remover marker, rubbing alcohol, or acetone nail polish remover. But I got most of the stain out with the Murphy’s, thanks to your post!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      May 4, 2019 at 11:54 AM

      Yay! This is exactly the kind of comment that I love to hear! It’s like a miracle, isn’t it? 🙂

      Reply
  3. Lin says

    May 6, 2019 at 7:51 PM

    HI there! Do you need to let the fabric dry between applications? Thanks!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      May 7, 2019 at 3:27 PM

      No, just rinse a bit and reapply!

      Reply
  4. Marina says

    May 24, 2019 at 1:42 PM

    Thank you, did the magic! Awesome! You should youtube it! Thumup

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      May 24, 2019 at 4:03 PM

      Yay! Glad it worked for you.

      Reply
  5. Andrea says

    July 1, 2019 at 6:02 PM

    Does the oil in the soap leave a stain on the clothes after you get the dry erase marker out of your piece of clothing?

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      July 1, 2019 at 10:57 PM

      No, I’ve never had any issues with that at all!

      Reply
      • Lindsay says

        August 18, 2019 at 4:21 PM

        I was wondering the same thing. No grease stains from the oil? Thanks!

        Reply
        • ThriftyFrugalMom says

          August 18, 2019 at 11:41 PM

          Sure thing!

          Reply
  6. Don Whelan says

    July 11, 2019 at 12:53 PM

    I just succeeded in using Murphy’s to get at least month-old black dry-erase out of a white ballet jacket. Thank you for this article! Kiddo is happy and I’m relieved.

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      July 16, 2019 at 11:18 PM

      Love hearing this! Yay for clean ballet jackets and happy kids. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Jess says

    August 26, 2019 at 3:52 PM

    This worked! Thank you so much! I am so glad to have discovered your very helpful website!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      October 2, 2019 at 6:50 PM

      You are welcome, Jess! So glad that it helped you!

      Reply
  8. Wendy says

    September 1, 2019 at 12:57 AM

    I wore a white dress to school and got a black dry erase mark on it within the first hour. I tried Oxy Clean Max Force and rubbing alcohol with no improvement. Hydrogen peroxide did a little, but very little. Then I read this and used Murphy’s Oil Soap. The first application made a noticeable difference, and after 4 applications it was gone. I was sadly preparing to throw away my dress, and now I’m ready to wear it again Monday! This is amazing!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      September 1, 2019 at 8:48 AM

      Wow! I’d say black dry erase marker on a white dress is the ultimate test of whether this works. 🙂 So glad that your dress is saved!!

      Reply
  9. Tessa says

    September 6, 2019 at 2:54 PM

    Holey Moley!! My daughter came home from school in her fancy dress. She had two big red stains on it. She said it was washable marker…ok should come out. I forgot about it and finally washed it days later. Did not come out…I usually use hydrogen peroxide, dawn and baking soda and that takes most things out. This time it did not and I panicked. I found this page and tried it today and it worked! I didn’t believe my eyes when I took her dress out of the washer. Thank you so much , this saved her nice fancy dress!!!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      September 16, 2019 at 10:33 AM

      So happy that it saved her dress!! II love hearing that. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Rudy says

    October 6, 2019 at 8:51 PM

    I’m not even a mother, I accidentally gotten marker stains on my favorite sweater, I’m going to try the oil. Thanks!

    Reply
    • ThriftyFrugalMom says

      October 9, 2019 at 12:34 PM

      Ha! Well obviously all of us have goofs sometimes. Glad it could help you out. I’m sure your favorite sweater will be back in business soon!

      Reply
  11. James P says

    December 1, 2019 at 11:15 PM

    I was at a job interview and caught the side of my new white dress shirt with a non-washable black dry erase marker. The stain did not come out with a washing, and I searched to find out if I could remove it at home, rather than having to find a cleaner’s to do it. Got some Murphy’s, and: lo and behold, the stain is coming out, slowly but surely! It really set in there, but it gets lighter with each soap-rinse cycle. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Lydia Beiler says

      March 4, 2020 at 7:02 AM

      You are welcome! If this can get out a black marker on a white shirt, I think that’s the ultimate test! 🙂

      Reply
  12. Rebecca says

    February 18, 2020 at 8:22 PM

    Thank you! You just saved one of my daughters favorite shirts. I’ve had a bottle of this for years and didn’t remember until I found it about a week ago and tonight she comes home with dry erase on her shirt.

    Reply
    • Lydia Beiler says

      March 4, 2020 at 7:00 AM

      Whohoo! So glad that a favorite shirt was saved! And that you also found a use for that old bottle of Murphy’s oil. 🙂

      Reply
  13. Amanda says

    September 8, 2020 at 9:42 AM

    I was skeptical, but murphy’s oil soap worked wondered on dry erase marker!! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Lydia Beiler says

      September 11, 2020 at 6:11 PM

      You are welcome! So glad that it helped you.

      Reply

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Welcome! I’m Lydia. I love to share easy homemade recipes, simple homemaking tips and great money saving ideas. I want to help you find ways to live well and enjoy life on a budget! Read more…

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