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Posted By: Jane - Native American Getting Candle wax off fabric - 06/27/10 08:35 PM
I posted this question a while back and there were several good responses I wanted to try. But life got in the way of taking care of things and now I have an urgency.

I'm helping with a wedding July 10th and the bride wants to use some of the tablecloths I had neglected to take care of.

I have some small spots and large spots of white candle wax on polyester material. It's a light shade of lilac. The big chunks have been removed, but need to get the residual that melted into the cloth.

Any suggestions are most graciously appreciated.
From eHow:

Scrape away as much wax as you can with a dull knife.

Place a sheet of butcher paper, glossy side up, or a portion of a brown paper bag on top of the wax.

Press the tip of a warm iron gently over the affected area until the wax melts and attaches to the paper.

Lift the paper from the fabric as it cools.

Dab a small amount of denatured alcohol onto the stain if any candle dye remains on the fabric.

Sponge with water.

Wash the fabric as usual.

Hope this works for you, lcp.
Thanks Phyllis! I'll let you know how it works.
After much experimentation and having to trash one of the table toppers, I ended up with a method that worked.

Scraping the wax with my fingernail was much better than a knife or an inverted spoon tip. It got more of the wax off and was less damaging to the weave of the fabric. These were large wax spots. Using the dull knife or spoon tip stretched the fabric too much.

I placed a piece of brown paper bag underneath and on top of the fabric and ironed with the tip of the iron on medium heat. Once the wax melted through the brown paper, I slid the fabric to a clean spot and repeated this process until no more wax transferred to the brown paper.

However, this still left a significant amount of wax residue on the fabric, which was not removed by the alcohol. I poured some multi-purpose cleaner/degreaser into a glass bowl and heated it in the microwave. As soon as I finished ironing a spot, I dipped it into the hot cleaner and rubbed the spot firmly with my fingers. That took care of the wax residue completely. I used Krud Kutter. It's the best degreaser I've found and is safe for most fabrics. It's also made here in Georgia.

I just finished ironing the clean table toppers for tomorrow's wedding. If you look at the fabric in bright light and at an angle, there is still a little sheen from the wax spots. However, with the table set, it will not be noticeable.

I need to contact the people who make Krud Kutter to let them know I've found yet another use for their product. Thanks Phyllis, your instructions got me in the right direction to success and helped me salvage over 20 table cloths and toppers.
Posted By: Jilly Re: Getting Candle wax off fabric - 01/03/12 04:58 AM
On Solstice, Dan blew out the candle and spewed wax all over our expensive microfiber settee. I have been wanting to do the brown bag and iron thing, but do not own an iron. frown
Posted By: Jilly Re: Getting Candle wax off fabric - 02/04/12 11:34 PM
Any ideas how i can clean this off without an iron?
Posted By: Lisa LowCarb Re: Getting Candle wax off fabric - 03/11/12 03:12 AM
Dear Jilly -

An iron is just a smooth hot heavy item. Do you have any glass large measuring cup? Put water in it and microwave it. Now you have an iron smile
If you have an iron pan, you can heat that up. The measuring cup idea sounds good, too. Lisa is right. An iron is just a smooth, hot, heavy item.
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