In a moment of clumsiness, I recently managed to spill several blobs of Evo Stik contact adhesive onto a sweatshirt. It's fairly heavy-duty glue, and I didn't notice the spillage until it had completely hardened, so I pretty much assumed that was the end of that particular garment. As it happened, some of the glue hadn't soaked in and I was able to pick those bits off with a fingernail, but there was still a fair amount of soaked-in dried glue left.
A not-very hopeful interrogation of Mr Internet mainly returned suggestions involving the use of toluene-based substances, like paint thinners, which sounded a bit messy and smelly. I figured that dampening the affected areas with water, then freezing the sweatshirt might conceivably shift the worst of it, with the water in the damp fibres turning to ice, expanding under the glue and so loosening it (I also hoped that freezing might weaken the glue itself and make it easier to flake off).
In fact, wetting and freezing was more powerful than I could possibly imagine. Never mind getting rid of the worst of it; once frozen and thawed, all the remaining glue blobs were easily flaked off and, one cool wash later, not a trace remains. As good as new.
There's not much I've ever done about the general state of the world, except whinge about it occasionally, but when it comes to the specific domain of adhesive-damaged clothing, I have truly become the change I wish to see in the world.
Well, it's a start.
A not-very hopeful interrogation of Mr Internet mainly returned suggestions involving the use of toluene-based substances, like paint thinners, which sounded a bit messy and smelly. I figured that dampening the affected areas with water, then freezing the sweatshirt might conceivably shift the worst of it, with the water in the damp fibres turning to ice, expanding under the glue and so loosening it (I also hoped that freezing might weaken the glue itself and make it easier to flake off).
In fact, wetting and freezing was more powerful than I could possibly imagine. Never mind getting rid of the worst of it; once frozen and thawed, all the remaining glue blobs were easily flaked off and, one cool wash later, not a trace remains. As good as new.
There's not much I've ever done about the general state of the world, except whinge about it occasionally, but when it comes to the specific domain of adhesive-damaged clothing, I have truly become the change I wish to see in the world.
Well, it's a start.
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