Down with dry cleaning

Dry clean only labels drive me mad, in so many ways.  There’s the cost, there’s the dubious environmental impact of all that solvent, there’s the remembering to drop off and pick up, and having your stuff out of circulation for a few days - or a week if you have a bad memory like me.  And there’s the worry of handing over your precious clothes to a stranger.  And when that is my best vintage suit, 1950s couture from the London house of Lachasse bought for only £75 because of moth damage and beautifully repaired at significantly more expense by the Invisible Menders in Marylebone, that is rather stressful.  But some things you just have to dry clean.

On the other hand, lots of things you don’t.  I don’t really mean to put lots of cleaners out of business, but it seems more and more things that could be washed are being sold as dry clean only because presumably the makers can’t be bothered to test washability.  So I thought I’d share my recent washing rebellion successes and tips in case you felt like risking it yourself.  But please do be careful - think before you wash!

First up, I tend to think about why the manufacturer would have put on a dry clean label.  Some fabrics or fabric constructions react badly to the usual solvent we use to remove dirt - I.e. soap and water, forcing us to use other solvents to remove the grease and dust.   Sometimes we can manage the impact of soap and water by handling clothes carefully in the process, and sometimes we can’t.   For example, many fabrics shrink the first time they are washed.  If they were made up into clothes without being ‘pre shrunk’, when you wash them in water you may end up with a garment that is too small. Lined items are a particular challenge because the lining and outer fabric can shrink differently, pulling the whole garment out of shape.  A suit jacket is the extreme example of this: a good quality suit has interlining, interfacing, and padding as well as the ordinary fabric and lining - you are unlikely to get that back in shape if you wash it.

Water tends to disarrange fibres, particularly natural ones, meaning you need to iron them flat again when they are dry.  If the item is a fiddly shape, the fabric is very delicate, or the trimming means it can’t be ironed, you may not be able to get the garment to  look how you want it too.  Some fabric dyes are water soluble - if in doubt, try to patch test on a seam or hem.  And some fabrics just can’t be washed as the fibres get too damaged.  However, wool, silk, cotton and linen should not be in that category.  The main think you have to guard against with these fibres is shrinkage, and in some cases fading.  That means washing gently, with cool water, and drying or ironing to manage shrinkage.

So for example - silk blouses.  I can’t understand why these are so often dry clean only.  If it came from a high street store, it isn’t going to be fancy natural dyes, and tightly woven fine silk doesn’t shrink, or not so I’ve ever noticed.  Looser hopsack weaves can, but not blouse silk.  The first time I wash a particular silk top, I might handwash it gently in cool waster with a little gentle detergent - I use a liquid so it is easy to dissolve in cool water.  I rinse well in several changes of water (the boring bit), blot out most of the water by rolling up in a clean towel and twisting the towel roll for a minute or two, and hanging up to dry on a coat hanger.  The blouse may look a little shrunken, because the fabric crinkles up a bit, but it will spread back out fine when you iron it with a cool iron.   If that goes well, I will probably chuck the blouse in the wash in future, on 30 degrees, in a net washing bag to protect them from snags.  The washer rinses better than I do and is more water efficient.

I apply the same approach to cashmere and other fine wool sweaters.  Its really important to keep cashmere clean, as it is prone to grit induced holes, so wash it often. You may get holes anyway, but if you catch these when they are tiny they are easy to stitch up with sewing thread the same shade as the yarn.  Check for them when you are washing.  I confess I also put new cashmere and most wool through the washer on a cool wash too, though I still handwash vintage pieces.  Ok it shrinks sometimes, but it is worth the risk because I have so many of these thin jumpers and I would spend half my weekend handwashing other wise.

When I really started to gamble was with vintage dresses bought on eBay.  They usually arrive filthy and dry cleaning doesn’t seem to get them properly clean.  In particular, one grey wool dress stank of sweat even after dry cleaning, and was unwearable till I could get it clean.  So after several assaults with Febreeze spray, and also white vinegar (good at odour removal on washable items) I took the plunge and washed it gently in cool water and detergent - in the bath so I didn’t need to scrunch it up.  Having rinsed the dress and blotted it by rolling in a towel as described above, I eased it on to my dressmakers dummy and zipped it up.  I reckoned if it was dried on a me shaped model, it couldn’t shrink so that it no longer fitted me. 

Bingo!  Not only did the dress come out fresh, clean, and still fitting me, it also dried smooth and didn’t need ironing.  This is now how I wash all my dresses and skirts, even lined ones, where there is the risk of shrinking.  In fact, with one skirt I made myself of hopsack silk came out a bit big, and I used this method to shrink it to fit.  I have had the odd case where the skirt shortened a bit, and I had to take the lining up to match, but that was another homemade job, and the lining was always on the long side.  If this is a real worry because the lined item hasn’t ever been washed before, I would perhaps let the hem down before I washed it the first time, and then turn it back up the right length afterwards.  I don’t wash suit skirts though - these are always cleaned with the jacket to avoid colour differences between the two items.

You might think its a bit excessive to buy a dressmakers dummy just to wash things, but if you have a lot of items it will save you money in the long run.  Mine cost £150,  but it costs me £8 each time I get a dress cleaned.  I did buy it mainly for dress making, but I am growing convinced that it is essential just for maintenance of your wardrobe if you are serious about clothes, particularly vintage. 

I have also washed dry clean only trousers with success - mainly simple unlined ones,  They shrank a little, but in the case of my linen oxford bags, that was a good thing as I kept treading on the hems.  To make sure I got the full shortening effect I was very careful to press rather than iron, to avoid stretching the fabric lengthways.  On the other hand, my wool pallazo pants needed to be kept long, so when I ironed them out I made sure to iron lengthways and stretch them back to the original size. 

Comments

[SmashingPuffin]

I absolutely agree with you. I came to the same conclusion when I started to knit and learned how fibres are spun and dyed. If fibre can handle all that processing, surely it would survive in my hands or washing machine. Maybe it's good to add, that the temperature of the rinse water should match that of the soap bath. Where did you find the white vinegar?

[Emily O'Byrne]

Hi - nice to meet a fellow Raveler. I currently use distilled malt vinegar which is not great as it smells like a chip shop. But that soon passes. I have just order acetic acid from the Soap Kitchen Online (https://www.soapkitchenonline.co.uk/acatalog/catalogbody.html), where I get my cosmetic making supplies. Lets see how that goes!

[Term papers]

Thanks for pulling this together and sharing!