Thread: Help! - removing hemming tape

Looking to find a quick fix, I used hemming tape on a holographic polyester skirt. It looks kind of awful. Is there a trick to removing this stuff?

Anyone? It's not the iron-in kind which I found advice for on-line but the adhesive tape kind....

I kind of feel like the costuming "I Love Lucy" sometimes...

Isopropyl alcohol will sometimes remove adhesive from fabric, but it's important to test this on a very small, non-visible area of the fabric to make sure that it doesn't damage the fabric.

First gently pull off the adhesive tape. If it doesn't come off easily, lightly steaming the area may loosen it (just make sure you don't melt your fabric). Once you've removed the tape itself, you're left with the residue. You may be able to rub your finger across it, causing it to ball up. Then you can pick off the gluey balls. Sometimes rubbing an ice cube across the glue will help it ball up.

If that doesn't remove all of it, dab it gently with rubbing alcohol to break down the glue.

Again, please TEST ON A SMALL AREA first to be sure it doesn't damage the fabric.

Lunascura's suggestion is extremely good.

Here are three much wackier approaches of last resort.

1. One thing that takes stickiness off of items is... Goo Gone. Unfortunately Goo Gone is an OIL. (similarly, eucalyptus oil would work). The problem of course is that your fabric would be oily. Is your fabric washable? Don't do this unless you have a scrap to test on to make sure you can get the oil out!

2. Nail polish remover is a solvent... uh... it might work but it might dissolve the fabric. Proceed with EXTREME CAUTION.

3. Really odd idea: put the whole shebang in the freezer. A lot of tapes won't stick at freezing temps. Might work, might not.

Good luck!!

I got some VERY sticky labels off fabric by ironing over paper towels with an extremely hot iron (no steam). I placed a paper towel over the sticky label, a scrap of fabric over the towel, and then rubbed the iron over the area for a while (5+ seconds). Peel the paper towel up and the sticky was transferred to the towel. Took ages, but it did it well. Finally, I ironed the last few bits with just the paper towel, no fabric scrap (last "mopping up" action).

However, I strongly recommend you try a test patch in an invisible area too! (What previous posters said!!)