Removing iron-ons

Mabel's clothing labels resist the wear and tear of laundry and children beautifully! Iron-ons are the classic choice for clothing labels.

But can they be removed?

The short answer is, it depends.

Many people are able to just pull them off by picking at a corner that has come loose over time. By design, however, the iron-on label ever so slightly melts to adhere to the fabric.

If you have been aggressive with the iron (by heating longer than recommended on the package) to adhere the labels (as I was with the socks shown to the right*), you may be left with a little bit of residue on your clothing. Note that I was able to remove the name part of the label, but not the base part that melted into the sock.

Some people recommend to "Try ironing it and when it is warm ease up a corner and pull fairly hard." I understand that some people have had success with the following method:

1. Place a piece of parchment paper over the label and heat the label with a hot dry iron.
2. Remove the parchment paper.
3. Pull it from a corner while the label is still hot. (Be careful not to burn yourself! Use a blunt knife to do this.)
4. Peel label away from the clothing.
   
5. The label may break as it cools.
6. Repeat as necessary.

I haven't had a chance to try heating up the label and then removing the residue -- when I do I'll post back here with the results.

Alternately, one could iron a new one over the top (should the item be used by another member of your family).

Variables which may affect the ease with which labels are removed: washing in hot water, excessive washing, time, fabric (smooth cotton vs fleece).

--
* The labels on had been on these socks for about six months. In that time they had only been washed in cold water.

Can you take off shoe labels?

It's well known that Mabel's Labels shoe labels are:

• extra tough
• extra sticky
  
• do not rub off on socks
  
• fit nicely into the insole of shoes, boots, skates and rollerblades and are
  
• shipped with protective overlays to ensure durability.

But what happens if you want to take the labels OFF the shoes?

From Lady M's post "More on Mabel's Labels":

"My son outgrew his his nicely labeled shoes this week, and I wanted to return them to anonymity before giving them away to Goodwill. With only a little bit of tugging effort, I was able to remove the Mabel's Labels from each shoe, with barely a trace of stickiness left in the shoe.

The labels stayed on when they were supposed to stay on. And they came off when they were supposed to come off. I'm a fan."