Launder Beeswax out of Cotton

Hello fabric-experts!

I burn beeswax candles over a cotton table cover. Now there is lots of beeswax on the table cover. What is the best way to get it out?

Washing soda.

It reacts chemically with the wax to turn it into soaps, which are then soluble.

I think you might be able to do it by laying it between two sheets of paper and then ironing it. The wax will melt and be absorbed into the paper.

Not that I have much experience with irons...

Burra Maluca wrote:I think you might be able to do it by laying it between two sheets of paper and then ironing it. The wax will melt and be absorbed into the paper.

Not that I have much experience with irons...

I've heard about doing this for carpets. It came from someone in the church of england so they should know what they're doung as they burn a loooottttt of candles.

My method involves an iron and a cloth for pressing, best something that can be thrown away. The wax will transfer to the cloth.

I see Burra mentioned something similar.

I've also heard that you can freeze it and then just crack it off. I'm impressed with all of the suggestions here, but hopefully, I won't ever have to do any of them!

Agree with freezing first. The wax becomes hard and you might be able to flick it off of the cloth or gently rub the cloth back and forth so the wax breaks up and falls off the cloth.

Ironing it will just drive the wax into the cloth.

Flick as much as you can off the surface.  Freezing will help.  Then use an iron to melt the wax into waste paper, clean newsprint is perfect newspaper will add ink to the cloth, prevent that.  

Batique artists used to boil the cloth to remove the wax.  There may by e modern products…. The washing soda sounds like a great idea but may alter the color of your fabric.

As an ex-professional carpet cleaner with experience using irons to get candle wax out of carpet, it'll work to get the bulk of it out, but you're going to still be left with some residue, wet looking wax stains, and color left behind.  Especially on white fabric.  And that was with using a professional candle wax removing solvent and then ironing it.  I haven't tried the washing soda trick, so maybe iron out as much as you can and then throw it in the washing machine with washing soda while immediately after.  Once you take it out of the washing machine, if there's still any waxy stain or color left behind, put it in a bucket with hot water and OxyClean for 24 - 48 hours.  That's how I get my cotton dishtowels really white again.  When they start looking dull, or get stained, I soak them in OxyClean and hot water for 24 - 48 hours.  If you have a shower curtain that gets moldy on the bottom from not washing it often enough, do the same thing, dip the bottom of the shower curtain into a bucket of hot water and OxyClean.  

To avoid the wax issue again, put the candles on some kind of cloth placemat that you don't mind if it gets wax dripped on it.  If anyone asks about the wax on the placemat, you can just smile and say, "Yeah, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.  It reminds me of all the good times and good meals we've had by candlelight."  Make it a memory instead of a mess.  I'm kinda corny that way.  But, I think we could all use more corny in our lives.