Great 'slash the cost of dry-cleaning' Hunt

tubster

I have got a sofa with soft cotton covers, a kind of bleached out red colour. It is covered with food and snot stains from the kids and it is getting a bit embarassing! The covers come off but they say dry clean only. Someone has said I should try them in the washing machine on delicate cycle, but the clothes steamer also seems like a good idea - or a carpet steamer maybe? Any advice appreciated.

Seakay

anskills wrote:

sounds good, although im not sure exactly what tacking stiches are and how to do them?

Tacking stitches are big running stitches - easy to pull out when you are done with them.

kittiwoz

I have hand washed quite a lot of stuff that says dry-clean only with cool water and it has been fine. I have done silk, woven wool and felted wool and it has been OK. I did once pay £37 to have a sheep-skin coat dry-cleaned after a bottle of orange juice leaked in my rucksack and soaked it because although it was more then the coat cost at a charity shop it was considerably less than the coat is worth. It is a Nursey's coat and unusual in that it is cut in a slimmer style than most sheepskin coats so there's no way I could afford to replace it and it is the type of coat that could last a lifetime. Normally, i.e. if it wasn't covered with orange juice, I would just brush it or spot clean. I have a lightweight blue suede coat too which needs cleaning and I am going to try suede shoe-cleaner on it so I will let you know how I get on though it may take a while for me to get round to it since I have other stuff I should be doing and it is a Spring/Summerweight coat. I have had success removing stains from satin acetate by dabing with a vodka soaked cloth.

tubster wrote:

I have got a sofa with soft cotton covers, a kind of bleached out red colour. It is covered with food and snot stains from the kids and it is getting a bit embarassing! The covers come off but they say dry clean only. Someone has said I should try them in the washing machine on delicate cycle, but the clothes steamer also seems like a good idea - or a carpet steamer maybe? Any advice appreciated.

Generally cotton is pretty hardy in the wash to the point where you can boil it. However it often leaches dye so this may be the problem with your loose covers. I would soak them in salt water to try and fix the dye a bit, then put them in the washing machine on a 30 degree cycle. As far as I can see the worst case scenario is that they end up a bit streaky and you have to re-dye them though I don't think that is likely. The exception would be if the covers have been chemically treated to make them stain or fire retardant. There should be a label to tell you if this is the case. I can't find anything that specifically states whether Scotguard stands up to cleaning or whether it would nee reapplying afterwards so would tend to assume it would be OK but if the cloth has beed sprayed with fire-retardant then you would have to respray it once it was dry if you got it wet. TBH I would think that cotton loose covers would not need to be sprayed with fire retardant provided the sofa underneath was OK from that aspect because untreated cotton is not that flamable compared to untreated synthetic fibres anyway but I'm no expert on the subject so don't take that as gospel.

tubster

Brilliant, thanks Kittiwoz

dave747_2

Ring up your local hospital, they all have laundry services and some provide dry cleaning services to the public, they are much cheaper, also I believe that some NHS staff get further reductions.

hollydays

Wash them on the delicates cycle(30 degrees) use a soap powder for delicates,stop the machine BEFORE it goes into the spin cycle.After the time delay,take out the ties,drip dry and finish off in the tumble dryer for a bit.Very gently iron.

homealone_2

SunnyBrighton wrote:

Thanks for the info about revive .. I hadn't even heard of it! Several years ago, there were a couple of brands of dry cleaning sheets for the tumbler - they were absolutely brilliant and I didn't use the dry cleaners for about 18 months. You used a corner of the dampish sheet to rub out any stains, then popped it all into the tumbler in a special velcro-ed plastic bag. Absolutely brilliant. If this is similar, I'm a happy bunny!!

i too used the cleaning shets you are talking about and they were great. especially for your winter coat and large items that cost a bomb at dry cleaners. i turned finding boxes of them into a what must have been a six month search, with no luck. eventually i found an old box and emailed them to ask where they stocked them and was told they stopped making them because of poor sales. i think me and my family and friends would have kept the company going ourselves had i known business was so bad. i am now reduced to either not buying dry clean only items anymore or end up chancing them on a delicate wash and ruining them. was told a while ago that some do pop up on ebay now and again, but i have never seen any

PoundsLookAfterThemselves

Most designer clothes only have ‘dry clean only’ labels in to cover themselves nearly always they can be machine washed or worst hand washed. I put all my 100% Silk chiffon clothes in the wash and my cashmere cardigans on a hand wash cycle. :T

Just don’t machine wash wool or silk crepe!

wehavethepower

Anyone know any good deals to dryclean duvets and pillows...in London.
But just wondering if we should just take them to a laundrette and do it ourselves - as the washing machines will be big enough to fit the duvets??!

Penny-Pincher!!

BargainRzl-OH took 8 items down to the sry cleaners you recomended this morning and really cant believe that they are cleaning: 2 x mens suits, huge mens winter coat, DD's pale pink summer full length coat and my 2 piece Monsoon suit for £12:D

Thanks Hun:T :j :beer:

PP
xx