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!
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
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.
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.
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.
4. Wash as you normally would and enjoy feeling like a magician! 🙂
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Sarah Williams says
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!!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
So happy that it helped save some clothing for you, Sarah! Thanks for letting me know!
Gail says
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!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
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?
Nancy says
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!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Yay! This is exactly the kind of comment that I love to hear! It’s like a miracle, isn’t it? 🙂
Lin says
HI there! Do you need to let the fabric dry between applications? Thanks!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
No, just rinse a bit and reapply!
Marina says
Thank you, did the magic! Awesome! You should youtube it! Thumup
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Yay! Glad it worked for you.
Andrea says
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?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
No, I’ve never had any issues with that at all!
Lindsay says
I was wondering the same thing. No grease stains from the oil? Thanks!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Sure thing!
Don Whelan says
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.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Love hearing this! Yay for clean ballet jackets and happy kids. 🙂
Jess says
This worked! Thank you so much! I am so glad to have discovered your very helpful website!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
You are welcome, Jess! So glad that it helped you!
Wendy says
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!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
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!!
Tessa says
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!!!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
So happy that it saved her dress!! II love hearing that. 🙂
Rudy says
I’m not even a mother, I accidentally gotten marker stains on my favorite sweater, I’m going to try the oil. Thanks!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
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!
James P says
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!
Lydia Beiler says
You are welcome! If this can get out a black marker on a white shirt, I think that’s the ultimate test! 🙂
Rebecca says
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.
Lydia Beiler says
Whohoo! So glad that a favorite shirt was saved! And that you also found a use for that old bottle of Murphy’s oil. 🙂