ds just drew on my sofa with felt tip <hyperventilates>

[naturalbaby]

so how can I clean cheap felt tip (probably non washable) off?? The sofa material is kind of nubuck suede but not massively expensive. The pen has smudged a bit where his hand rubbed it. The sofa is dark brown so I may just have to notch it up with the spilt milk and wee stains.
All I wanted was 2mins in the toilet, and it was the pen for ds2's potty training chart (full of misses, not success stickers). I need a stiff drink.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This happened to my friend. She called the company to ask. They said they would send out a specialist cleaner.

After two weeks, the man turned up, complete with his trolley of very important cleaning stuffs, and my friend couldn't find the mark. it had soaked in or disappeared, or something deeply technical in the process of ordinary living.

She was mortified.

OK - I'd test to check if non-washable first. So wet a cotton bud and have some kitchen paper handy. Gently rub wet cotton bud on very end of mark and blot with kitchen paper. If lots comes off then it is probably water soluble and you should be able to use water (and maybe a tiny amount of wu liquid) to remove it. Do it gradually using cotton bud and blotting with kitchen paper.

If only a little comes off, repeat the first procedure, but use surgical spirits (get from chemist) on a new cotton bud. Test an inconspicuous area of cover first to check it doesn't remove dye. This is alcohol based and should remove water-fast inks. (If you have any vodka at home you could try this instead!!).

You can also buy Stain Devil stain removers, one of which will remove felt tip, but again check it doesn't remove dye by testing on inconspicuous area first.

Thank you for feeling my pain. The worst part was being upstairs and hearing him telling his little brother exactly what he was doing and not quite believing what I was hearing (he's the angelic one who never does anything wrong). I've wiped/blotted it a bit so it doesn't look so bad. They climb all over the arm where he drew so I'm hoping it'll rub/fade away.