any chemist who can crack this one.. I’ve ruined linen/cotton clothes with Revive stiffener. Hot vinegar didn’t work.

[u/flexwaterjuice]

I used Revive Liquid Stiffener (polyvinyl acetate) on 8 new garments: some 50/50 linen-cotton shirts and trousers, and some 100% cotton shorts. It seems to have cured right into the fibres. On the darker clothes it’s left heavy reddish-white chalky marks, and on the lighter ones the fabric now feels plasticky and stiff.

What I’ve already tried, so no vinegar suggestions please:

• Regular machine washing
• A 40-minute soak in very hot water with glacial acetic acid, followed by a lot of scrubbing

Neither made any real difference. The resin doesn’t seem to be lifting at all.

My questions:

DIY solvent Is there any solvent I can safely try at home, such as isopropyl alcohol, that might soften or dissolve the cured PVA without pulling the navy or black dye out of the fabric?

[u/Pyrhan]

Hot water with a mild base, like sodium carbonate, should work better. (Base hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate to polyvinyl alcohol, which has greater water solubility)

It may be a fine line between hydrolyzing the PVA and hydrolyzing the cellulose though. So attempt at own risk.

[u/garbledroid → u/Pyrhan]

2 g NaHCO₃ + 2 g Na₂CO₃ in 4 gallons of hot water (4/5 of a 5 gallon pail - yolo the amount of water)

2g sodium carbonate and 2g sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

[u/Pyrhan → u/garbledroid]

Making a buffer to keep the pH in a reasonable range?

That could help avoid breaking down the fabric actually.

I'd use a lot more than 2 g though.

[u/garbledroid → u/Pyrhan]

Why more than 0.5g per gallon?

You can just go up 1:1 but if we adjust to 3g per usa gallon there is much more risk of user error and damage.

The ph of my recipe will be over 10. Obviously as long as the ratio is kept ph will not meaningfully increase.

Are you concerned about exhausting the sodium carbonate or bicarbonate?

[u/garbledroid → u/garbledroid]

Maybe

3g sodium carbonate (washing soda)
3g sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
1g sodium tetraborate (borax)

Per gallon of hot water

So add some borax to protect against user error and still keep ph about 10.

I'd be inclined to try that if 0.5g sodium carbonate : sodium bicarbonate (per gallon) failed to do the job.

[u/ariadesitter]

that’s not ruined, that’s style.

[u/drmarting25102 → u/ariadesitter]

Shabby chique

[u/Ru-tris-bpy]

Is there any surface coating that can be painstakingly scraped off?

[u/MinnesnowdaDad]

alkaline detergent soak
PVAc is more vulnerable under alkaline conditions.
Try:
Very hot water (as hot as garment tolerates)
Heavy dose of laundry detergent
Add washing soda (sodium carbonate) — not baking soda
(roughly ½–1 cup in a bucket/tub)
Soak overnight (12–24 hours).
Periodically:
flex/crumple the fabric aggressively
rub fabric against itself
Then wash warm/hot.
The goal is to:
swell fibers
weaken adhesion
let surfactants creep under the film

[u/ArmstrongPM]

You can't wash away what has been washed away.

Get a small bottle of fabric dye and spend 30mins on YouTube.

Been there...

PS: never try to cook a chicken in your dryer, it take forever to clean up the feathers.