Just sat on a chewing gum. With a Gieves & Hawkes suit.

[Chrenetique]

Some lousy mofo thought it was a funny idea to stick an old chewing gum on the chair I unhappily chose today. Obviously, I was wearing my beautiful Gieves & Hawkes bespoke suit. I was sitting for a good hour when I suddenly felt constricted under my right thigh. Horrendous sight of a slimy white substance sticking to my trousers. The mark is huge, say, like a middle finger. No pictures because there are too many ugly things in this world.
What should I do to remove that chewing gum? I'd rather avoid sending back my suit to Gieves & Hawkes: dispatching things to England is too much of a long, expensive and tedious process. And I don't have a decent dry cleaner around my present location (leaving an expensive suit with the local dry cleaners somewhat appears to be a daring experience).
I want to do things quickly. Hence, I need to remove the mark by myself. What's your advice? The suit is made of dark and thick tweed, if it can help.
Thanks in advance.

 

[ssasson]

This is a good website that has some tutorials on removing gum. Though I have never had to remove any from tweed, the freezing method has worked for me in the past.
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Gum-from-Clothes

If you have already removed the gum by yourself, and you're left with the obnoxious oil-like mark, I would suggest trying denatured alcohol. Dab some on a small hidden area prior to cleaning so that you're certain it does not alter the fabric in any way (though it shouldn't). If you can find it, denatured alcohol should give you success. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, or other hardware stores usually have it. If you can't find denatured alcohol, use 99% Isopropyl.

Good luck!

 

[Big Texas]

That blows (sorry).

If the gum is more or less clumped together in a single mass, you might be able to harden it by running some ice cubes over it. This will make the gum more brittle, allowing you gently to peel it away from the wool.

If the gum is too spread out or heavily worked into the fabric, your best bet would be to send the suit over to a specialist, like Rave Fabricare. If they can't get it out, I'm not sure if even G&H can.

 

[aravenel]



That blows (sorry).

If the gum is too spread out or heavily worked into the fabric, your best bet would be to send the suit over to a specialist, like Rave Fabricare. If they can't get it out, I'm not sure if even G&H can.

Yeah, I was going to suggest a specialist cleaner as well. Have heard good things about Rave, but have never tried them.

You could call G&H and see what they think.

That really sucks, sorry to hear that

 

[Ianiceman]

Two options. Put the strides in the freezer. When the gum freezes you should be able to knock it off with no harm to the wool.

Otherwise lighter fuel - the petrol kind that you put in zippo lighters - should get it off.

 

[Chrenetique]

Thanks. The mark is well spread out, like 3.5 inches long and 1 inch wide. The gum doesn't seem deeply worked into the fabric because that's a really thick, old-school tweed.

Sending things to America is tedious (even more than England) too because I'm in continental Europe.

And what do you think about using a triclorethylene-based stain remover? Will it leave some kind of ring?

 

[philosophe]

Call a specialty drycleaner asap. Some people here use Rave (do a forum search). I use Gem Cleaners in Philadelphia 215 8486190. You can ship the clothing UPS or Fedex. The the NYC members here will also be able to recommend a cleaner.

 

[aravenel]

I would be very hesitant to dump some chemical cleaner on my suit.

Call G&H and see what they recommend. I'd rather pay $100 and wait a month to ship the suit somewhere for cleaning than dump some mystery cleaner on my suit and run the risk of ruining a $5k suit.

 

[Eustace Tilley]

Quote:
+1

 

[VinnyMac]

...should have looked before you sat. That's the most easy solution.

 

[Veremund]

^^^ That's not a solution. That's prevention.

 

[VinnyMac]

^^^ That's not a solution. That's prevention.

...or a proactive solution...either way.

 

[edmorel]

the freezing method will work. Take an ice cube and rub on the gum until it freezes, it will come right off.

 

[aravenel]



...or a proactive solution...either way.

Whatever it is, it's useless advice now, it's already happened.

 

[Chrenetique]

I tried to remove the mark myself, but it's long, very long. I'll write to Gieves & Hawkes, but sending stuff to England will be more expensive (and time-consuming) than going to the absolute best specialist in my country, so...