can I handwash a silk skirt ?

suep

I have checked in the index section, but there was no answer to the lady that had posted a similar question to mine, so I hope noone minds me asking again.
My daughter brought a silk skirt last week and wore it out at the weekend, it now needs a wash as it looks like somethings been spilt on it but it says Dry Clean only on the label, the skirt was only £7.00 in a sale so she doesnt really want to spend out too much on dry cleaning, does anyone think it would be ok to try it in a cool gentle hand wash ?

buxtonrabbitgreen

I have hand washed a silk shirt before a long time ago and it was.ok. I had to iron it wet or I couldn't get the creases out..

Mrs_Flittersnoop

I think I would risk it in a gentle wash personally, I wash all my silks before sewing them up and rarely have a problem - the only one I have had trouble with was one which had bright red flowers on - the dye ran and stained the other colours. Try hand washing with some baby shampoo if if you really want to look after it, it's a natural fibre so shampoo would work best.

HTH
Mrs F x

pollypenny

Yes, I handwash most things.

Do it gently on a day with sun and wind, so it dries quickly. Iron damp.

Rolling in a towel and leaving for about 10 minutes will also help, saving you from spinning in the washing machine.

Primrose

I've always broken the rules with silk. I've handwashed ties, blouses and even a dress. The trick is to use barely handwarm water with a little soap, just gently swirl the water around and let the items drip dry. Never put them in a washing machine to spin them or in a tumble drier. I recently bought a lovely silk shirt from a charity shop. To have it dry cleaned would have cost more than I paid for it, and simply hand washing it in this way bought it up as new. Iron it when damp on a very cool iron.

suep

Primrose wrote: »

I've always broken the rules with silk. I've handwashed ties, blouses and even a dress. The trick is to use barely handwarm water with a little soap, just gently swirl the water around and let the items drip dry. Never put them in a washing machine to spin them or in a tumble drier. I recently bought a lovely silk shirt from a charity shop. To have it dry cleaned would have cost more than I paid for it, and simply hand washing it in this way bought it up as new. Iron it when damp on a very cool iron.

Thats partly why she doesnt want to spend out on dry cleaning, the skirt was £5.00 in a sale.
Thanks for all the tips :T I will try tomorrow as the forecast is sunshine and showers

gooismeid

I used to work for a silk merchants and I agree that you can handwash most of the items labelled dry clean only - which is usually put on so that companies don't have to do expensive wash tests. Ironing while wet is a good way to make sure you get all the creases out. The only thing I would say is that if it's silk dupion - the crisp, taffeta-style silk with little slubs in it - then washing it will remove some of the dressing that makes it a bit stiff and it won't look the same, however much you iron it.

Angela

We have just bought a silk tie from M&S and after taking it out of its packaging and leaving it to hang since wednesday still has a crease that will be directly under the knot when wearing,should I wash the tie in barely hand hot water then iron? dont really want to ruin a new tie.
Any help greatlyfully received.