Dark lines inside shirt pocket

Every now and again when hanging out hubby’s shirts I notice dark lines along the inside of the pocket seams. On further investigation it turns out to be fluff that has compacted along the seams and is showing through the material of the pocket.

Although not noticeable once the shirt is dry, it is very obvious when the garment is wet. So this week as I was hanging out the shirts I decided to do something about it. It did require a little bit of patience, but to remove the fluff itself was easy.

The pockets had to be turned inside out; well at least the seams had to be brought up out through the pocket openings. I was amazed to see how much fluff was squashed flat on either side of the seam; no wonder the line was so visible.

Thankfully I have longish nails so was able to scrape my thumb nail up from the bottom of the seam to loosen and remove the fluff. As there are three sides to a pocket I had to scrape the fluff along all three seams on both side of the join. This procedure only worked because the material was damp. The fluff came out in strings. If I had tried to clean away the fluff when the shirt was dry it would have been much more difficult.

I was naughty and dropped the fluff on the floor, but probably that was a good thing because I was able to see how much had been caught in each pocket, and it was a fair amount. Yes, I swept it up with a dust pan and brush.

In one shirt I did discover a bit more than fluff. It looked like paper and on further investigation I think it might have been a receipt or a bus ticket. The washing had pulverized the paper and very small pieces had been compressed into the seams. The small fragments I was able to remove the same way as the fluff.

Once I had finally removed all the debris and turned the pockets back into place the results were excellent. No longer was there a dark line following the outline of the pocket, but instead a fresh, cleanly washed shirt, hanging on the line.

If someone does leave paper or a tissue in a shirt pocket you will find this method is probably the easiest way to remove it. If you don’t have longish nails, rub the material between your thumb and forefinger to loosen and remove the debris, but remember to do this while the garment is damp.