Handwashing Scarves Pictures Part I
- Thread starter CobaltBlu
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Mishkaluv, try The Laundress, they have a cashmere and silk wash, and ship to Canada.
thanks for bumping this thread up. But gotta say , all that colour running really scares me. I'm pretty good with my laundry but even with H....i feel my fingers trembling.
trying to work up some guts to do what CB is doing with all those scarves...
trying to work up some guts to do what CB is doing with all those scarves...
I"ve been washing my H scarves and shawls (cashmere/silk) for years since I hate the stiff chemical feel and smell you get from dry cleaning. Also they tend to iron the whole thing flattening the hems. I use JOHNSON'S BABY SHAMPOO (light lavender colored bottle and leaves a subtle hint of lavender) in very cold water. It works great. I told my Neiman Marcus SA and she's told her clients and has also received great feedback. It leaves it so soft and smelling great. Good luck.
I use Stergene (UK) and Woolite with success but have also used my own face wash gel as I figured if it is gentle enough for human skin it must be OK for silk and I found it was good for make up stains! I agree that others have used baby shampoo with success.
To dry I roll the scarves up in a towel and squeeze, then I iron the scarves dry using a cotton cloth over the scarf so the iron does not touch the silk directly - and of course I leave the hems alone!
To dry I roll the scarves up in a towel and squeeze, then I iron the scarves dry using a cotton cloth over the scarf so the iron does not touch the silk directly - and of course I leave the hems alone!
I have been washing my vintage Hermès for years as well as my mom and sister's. Like others I use a mild detergent (orvus paste or sometimes shampoo). I prefer no dyes or fragrances.
I apply the soap to the soiled spots with a cotton swab and then gently swish in a bowl of luke warm water, dissolving the soap to clean the whole scarf. It takes very little. I rinse in the shower under a handheld shower head to avoid the silk touching itself while wet.
I roll in a clean bath towel but do not press or squeeze as I want the hems to stay plump.
When damp dry from the towel I lay the scarf over a wide towel bar and dry with a blow dryer. This leaves the scarf silky and soft and wrinkle free with no compression of the hem. I use the blow dry technique on my husbands ties as well with exceptional results, by blowing up the wide end of the tie to dry it from the inside out.
I learned to clean delicate fabrics working with antique and vintage wedding gowns so that gave me the confidence to do my scarves.
I am looking forward to trying a bit of starch in a final rinse to see if this gives the very soft older scarves back a bit of the body the original sizing supplied the silk.
The only time I have had a problem is with one of my sister's, an unusual oblong double sided scarf, white back ground with a large character reminiscent of a playing card king or jack in very bright vivid colours, much of it a deep magenta red. That dye was somewhat unstable and as soon as I saw it bleed I stepped up the pace and rinsed as fast as possible. There was a small amount of residual crocking near the red because it was back to back with the two layers, but it was minimal and since the scarf had become so soiled it was unwearable and the slight crocking was undetectable when worn, she was still very happy with the results.
I have one scarf that came to me so dingy the field looked like a deep ecru. I was delighted to discover it was a light warm cream after I had washed it!
One last note; I never iron the folds back in and for my older vintage pieces I do not refold them along the original folds, as this eventually weakens the fabric. Not such an issue with a new fresh scarf but since most of mine are 40 plus years old I take care to fold them gently in different ways to protect them from damage.
I apply the soap to the soiled spots with a cotton swab and then gently swish in a bowl of luke warm water, dissolving the soap to clean the whole scarf. It takes very little. I rinse in the shower under a handheld shower head to avoid the silk touching itself while wet.
I roll in a clean bath towel but do not press or squeeze as I want the hems to stay plump.
When damp dry from the towel I lay the scarf over a wide towel bar and dry with a blow dryer. This leaves the scarf silky and soft and wrinkle free with no compression of the hem. I use the blow dry technique on my husbands ties as well with exceptional results, by blowing up the wide end of the tie to dry it from the inside out.
I learned to clean delicate fabrics working with antique and vintage wedding gowns so that gave me the confidence to do my scarves.
I am looking forward to trying a bit of starch in a final rinse to see if this gives the very soft older scarves back a bit of the body the original sizing supplied the silk.
The only time I have had a problem is with one of my sister's, an unusual oblong double sided scarf, white back ground with a large character reminiscent of a playing card king or jack in very bright vivid colours, much of it a deep magenta red. That dye was somewhat unstable and as soon as I saw it bleed I stepped up the pace and rinsed as fast as possible. There was a small amount of residual crocking near the red because it was back to back with the two layers, but it was minimal and since the scarf had become so soiled it was unwearable and the slight crocking was undetectable when worn, she was still very happy with the results.
I have one scarf that came to me so dingy the field looked like a deep ecru. I was delighted to discover it was a light warm cream after I had washed it!
One last note; I never iron the folds back in and for my older vintage pieces I do not refold them along the original folds, as this eventually weakens the fabric. Not such an issue with a new fresh scarf but since most of mine are 40 plus years old I take care to fold them gently in different ways to protect them from damage.
^^^I've always heard that it's not a good idea to dry clean silk anyway. There's something about the chemical damaging the natural fibers in silk that's not good for them. I NEVER dry clean silks unless it's something structured like a jacket or is a dress with a lining in it. I'm such a renegade that I even put a lot of my silk clothing in the washing machine.I use gentle cycle, cold water and depending on what it is, I may put it in garment washing bag. Then just air dry, iron on low heat as needed. Good as new and NO dry cleaning bills.
I wash silk and cashmere in the washer and even put them through the dryer, depending on the silk, but always with the cashmere. In the United States, clothing manufacturers generally put dry clean only on anything they don't want liability for. Of course, try this with your own items at your own risk!! But I wash cashmere sweaters, a Gucci cashmere blanket (it loses a lot of fluff during the drying process, so I try to limit how much I do that one), etc.
Good idea pkuyken.
It's well to be very careful with red/orange coloured older scarves.
I have never washed my orange red Napoleon , I'm not prepared to risk colour bleeding although I hand wash all the others as outlined by Cobalt Blu .
A couple of cashmere shawls did suffer very minor colour run but it doesn't bother me at all , they are old and heavily patterned .
It's well to be very careful with red/orange coloured older scarves.
I have never washed my orange red Napoleon , I'm not prepared to risk colour bleeding although I hand wash all the others as outlined by Cobalt Blu .
A couple of cashmere shawls did suffer very minor colour run but it doesn't bother me at all , they are old and heavily patterned .
I've washed vintage scarves with great success but nearly ruined a dip dyed scarf. I have areas of color loss on my beautiful Surteint 😱