Scarves Cleaning and Caring for Hermès Scarves

[Chestnutty]

I had to send out a red H scarf because of a stain to my local dry cleaners--dumb that I didn't think of looking for this thread first! The stain did come out, but the hems are now flat. Is there anything one can do to get the hems to look rolled again?

If I bring my scarf to my H boutique so it can be sent to their designated cleaners, do you think they can make the hems plump again? (maybe this is wishful thinking...)

It's just that it's one of the first scarves that my DH gave to me, so would love to have it looking fresh again. It's the last time I send a beloved H-scarf to my cleaners! TIA

Do not take any of your scarves to the non H-recommended cleaners, they would either iron it flat or use pin at the scarf corners. Unfortunately once the hem is flat, there's nothing these designated dry-cleaners can do.


There's a thread talking about flat hem rescue (more if you do a search for "flat hem" in this forum). You can try, it'd work but would take about 1 hr to roll the hem with your thumbs manually.
http://forum.purseblog.com/hermes/you-guys-are-going-to-think-im-nuts-89451.html

Hope that helps.

 

[jamberry]

^Thank you, Chestnutty, for your response! I was so focused on getting the stain out (about the size of a quarter), that I didn't think things through carefully. The cleaners stuck a safety pin to secure their tag in one corner. Arghhh! I will search this forum again for a "flat hem" rescue. The Hermes SA suggested that I carefully dampen the hem & roll it manually to get some life back into it. It may be worth a try, but only after I do some more research on this. Thanks again for your help

 

[memo]

I've re-plumped flattened hems when washing a scarf. After you've rolled it in a dry towel, roll the hems a small section at a time between your thumb and forefinger. I then iron the scarf (not the hems though) and then re-roll the hems again and let the scarf dry completely before folding. It's tedious and they don't come out as plump as a new scarf but it's much better than ironed flat hems.

 

[layd3k]

I've re-plumped flattened hems when washing a scarf. After you've rolled it in a dry towel, roll the hems a small section at a time between your thumb and forefinger. I then iron the scarf (not the hems though) and then re-roll the hems again and let the scarf dry completely before folding. It's tedious and they don't come out as plump as a new scarf but it's much better than ironed flat hems.

On what setting do you iron the silk scarf at and do you put the iron directly on the scarf? Do you iron the front or the back? And do you iron it as soon as you have unrolled it from the towel?

I know lots of questions, but I have been told that putting the iron directly on the silk will burn it. So I was just wondering how others ironed their scarves without any problems!

 

[memo]

On what setting do you iron the silk scarf at and do you put the iron directly on the scarf? Do you iron the front or the back? And do you iron it as soon as you have unrolled it from the towel?

I know lots of questions, but I have been told that putting the iron directly on the silk will burn it. So I was just wondering how others ironed their scarves without any problems!

I use silk setting, immediately after removing from towel, on front of scarf. Don't let the iron sit in one location on the scarf, that probably would burn the fabric.

 

[layd3k]

I use silk setting, immediately after removing from towel, on front of scarf. Don't let the iron sit in one location on the scarf, that probably would burn the fabric.

Thank you so much!

 

[CowPrincess]

I'm just going to add that I have found it to be a good idea to have a towel UNDER the scarf as you iron it (between the ironing board and the scarf).

 

[Chestnutty]

I always iron on the back of the scarf as iron temperature may fluctuates sometimes (malfunctioning iron?). In worst case, it can hurt some front print area with blanc matte if ironed on the front.
For scarves I have that are rare or vintage, I use a silk napkin to layer between the scarf and the iron, for extra protection. (call me paranoid if you want)

 

[princessjaina]

Hi everyone, I have been eagerly reading this thread this week as I received a pochette recently with a few small stains. The stains weren't too bad and I did wear it out once as it was, but it's always nicer to have a clean scarf so I decided to wash it. I've washed many silk scarves over the years following the instructions I found on the Perfect Red Box website which are pretty much the same as the instructions in this thread.

I thought I would wash the pochette and take some pictures to post to show how it can be done.

The first picture is of the scarf - the stains aren't that easy to see, but they weren't easy to see in real life either.

I wash all my scarves in my sink, so my first step is always to thoroughly wash the sink. Next I tested for colourfast-ness - I had read that a dark colour beside white is the worst for bleeding, so I was worried, but the blue did not run at all. For this step I just put a bit of lukewarm water in the sink and dipped a corner in and waited to see if it ran. If it had, I don't think I would have continued.

 

[princessjaina]

Then I rubbed dish soap (I've been using Palmolive) into the spots, to pretreat while the sink filled up with lukewarm water. Then I swished the the scarf through the water for a few minutes and rubbed the spots to encourage them to leave. It's hard to see the spots when the scarf is bunched up in the sink so I will pull it up out of the water and inspect it in the light. I have had luck just gently rubbing the stains and then rinsing and repeating to get the stains out.

 

[princessjaina]

Once I felt all the spots were out, I let all the soapy water out of the sink and held the bunched scarf under the running water while the sink emptied. Then I filled up the sink with clean water and swished the scarf around until the all the soap was out of the scarf. I get a clean white towel ready and squeeze all the water out of the scarf. Then the scarf gets laid on the towel and covered with the other end of the towel.

 

[princessjaina]

Finally, I roll the scarf inside the towel to squeeze out the extra water and then I lay it flat on the bed to inspect it (often dangerously close to a cat). This time, my boyfriend and I found a few more spots so we washed it again. Once we felt it was clean enough I laid it out flat in the bathroom on the towel (you can lay it out flat anywhere but I choose the bathroom because I can close the door and keep the cat out. Anyone with cats knows that a carefully laid out flat item is impossibly attractive to a cat).

This was my first experience washing a Hermes and it turned out pretty well. I will steam it later as I don't have an iron. I hope this gives anyone who hasn't washed a scarf yet a better idea of the process. Thanks for letting me share!

 

[KellyChan05]

Finally, I roll the scarf inside the towel to squeeze out the extra water and then I lay it flat on the bed to inspect it (often dangerously close to a cat). This time, my boyfriend and I found a few more spots so we washed it again. Once we felt it was clean enough I laid it out flat in the bathroom on the towel (you can lay it out flat anywhere but I choose the bathroom because I can close the door and keep the cat out. Anyone with cats knows that a carefully laid out flat item is impossibly attractive to a cat).

This was my first experience washing a Hermes and it turned out pretty well. I will steam it later as I don't have an iron. I hope this gives anyone who hasn't washed a scarf yet a better idea of the process. Thanks for letting me share!

Can I use the same method of cleaning twilly?

 

[princessjaina]

Can I use the same method of cleaning twilly?

Hi there, I think the answer to this is yes but no. I don't have a twilly but I understand that they have a seam (as in, it's one piece of fabric folded over and sewn together to make a flat tube). My hypothesis is that you could wash the twilly as I showed above, but that once it dried it's unlikely to lie flat as it does now.

It would take a lot of patience and skill (at least in my opinion) to steam or to iron a twilly flat because those small seams are really hard to get right. I personally would not do it just for that reason, because if you have a clean twilly that does not lie flat, it's probably just as annoying as a slightly dirty twilly.

That said, if it's just a small spot and you wouldn't have to get the whole scarf wet, you could try it, but I would say do your best not to get any more than the spot you need to wet. This is hard as water likes to run up silk. It would be pretty tricky.

Let us know what you decide to do!

 

[sarafinadh]

Hilarious story!!!!!

I have washed two scarves by hand. I was pretty scared to do it and didn't want any of the scarf to rub too long on another part in case colour transfer occurred. I used cold water, a delicate detergent from a department store in a pretty large tub. After swooshing it around for five minutes I laid the scarf on two large towels and rolled them to remove the water. While still damp I steamed the iron over the scarf. I was nervous of putting it directly on the silk, even though I read you could do this. Then I laid it flat to completely dry. This was my first time ever washing scarves by hand.

One scarf had some dirt on it from regular wear and that came out no problem. The other scarf was new and very stiff. After washing it some brown dirt lines appeared on one fold. I haven't tried removing them and I don't know what it's from since the scarf was red and white and no dye appeared in the water or on the colour catcher I used.

Weird about the brown lines... have you tried a little warm water on a q tip to see if it will "move"?

Try blow drying the scarf once you have rolled it in towels. I think this is the best way to dry them while preserving the hems. If I do iron them I use an ironing cloth of course between the silk and the iron.

Blow drying works amazingly well on ties also. I blow "up" the wide end. Dries out the liner and interfacing evenly and leaves the tie with plump rolled sides.