How to Remove Gum from Clothing

There are many ways to remove gum from clothing that don't resort to alteration charges or bringing them to a specialist. In fact, you can find most of the solutions to this problem at home in your kitchen with normal everyday appliances.

Remove gum from clothing using water

• Hold the garment under boiling water and scrape off using a toothbrush or something sharp like a knife. Allow it to dry and repeat if necessary. Alternatively you can hold it over the steam of a boiling kettle and, using a toothbrush, scrub until it is removed.

Remove gum from clothing using petrol or alcohol

• Place a small amount of petrol onto the affected area. Be careful as this can be hazardous and flammable. Use as little as possible. The petrol dissolves the gum. If you do not have any petrol, using something like gin can work just as well. Wash the clothing according to normal laundry conditions.

Remove gum from clothing by freezing it

• Fold the piece of clothing so that the gum is facing outwards and place in a plastic bag. Don't allow the gum to touch off the plastic. Seal the and place in the freezer. If this is impossible to do then place the clothing on top of the plastic bag and make sure that it is not touching anything else in the freezer. Take the garment out of the freezer and using a blunt blade cut the piece of gum off. Do not allow it to thaw as it becomes harder to remove again.

Remove gum from clothing using peanut butter

• This should only really be used if some of the other methods are not available to you as peanut butter is likely to stain the garment and will need to be removed using a liquid stain remover. Place peanut butter on the gum and scrape very gently with a knife so that the gum starts to adhere to the peanut butter and not the fabric. Wait until the gum starts to become softer and scrape it off.

Remove gum from clothing using vinegar

• Fill a cup with vinegar and heat it up. Then, using an old toothbrush, dip it into the vinegar and rub the gum with this. Try to do this as quickly as possible because the vinegar works best when hot. Continue this method until you successfully remove the gum from the clothing. You will need to wash the clothing after to get the smell of vinegar off.