Dry clean only?

valk_scot

I work with real sheep wool, wool fibre, wool blends, wool yarn and wool garments every day. The two things that cause wool to shrink and felt are abrupt temperature changes when wet, as in washing in hot water, rinsing in cold, and also agitation where you bash it around too much.

I would NEVER wash a non-superwash wool garment in a washing machine at any cycle, not put it in the tumble dryer. The fact your jumper says dry clean indicates it's not made of superwash wool so lets just forget the washing machine right now, okay? It might not felt, but chances are it will.

To wash by hand. Hand hot water and either pure soap flakes or a made for purpose wool wash liquid. Many handwashing liquids contain ingredients that will damage wool so check the label. The other option is some mild shampoo as hair and wool are very similar in chemical structure. (And the 5% cashmere, of course..it's just goat hair.) Fill the basin, add some soap or whatever you're using, mix but don't make a lot of lather. Immerse jumper and press gently under the water, making sure it's all immersed and pshing down on it to get the water into the fibres. DO NOT wring, scrub, twist or bash it about. Leave it for 15 minutes max to soak, lift out water gently and hold above sink to let the water drip off, or put it in the base of the bath or side of sink. Repeat if first wash was utterly filthy, keeping temp at hand hot. Then squeeze the water gently out, rinse twice in same temperature of water, being careful just to lower and press the jumper only. Finally leave it to drain off at the side of the sink for a few minutes then roll in an old towel to blot...you can stand on the towel roll to get the water out. DON'T WRING it. Repeat with second towel then arrange sonmewhere flat to dry. You can use yet another towel on the dining table (plastic tablecloth required!) or on a drying rack if you have one. Pull it into shape and pat flat while damp.

You can wash any type of woolen blend knitted garment this way except for these made from superwash yarns, which actually does much better in the wool wash cycle of your washing machine plus cool tumble dry.

j.e.j.

Thanks Val. Gosh, that sounds like quite a palaver!

I've just dropped the cardy off at the dry cleaners. He's assured me it won't shrink at all when it's dry-cleaned. I did have in mind gently washing it by hand in cool water with a proper wool detergent and then running it thru the cold cycle in the machine.

I love woollen garments (as opposed to acrylic which I don't much like the feel of) but I think I'll be checking the label/washing instructions before I buy next time

carefullycautious

HAND WARM WASH do not put into washing machine

valk_scot

j.e.j. wrote: »

Thanks Val. Gosh, that sounds like quite a palaver!

Goodness no. Takes about 5-10 minutes of actual hands on effort. I just wrote it out in detail so as you could be sure as to what to do. And 10 minutes of your or my time is worth £4,yes? Not to mention the fuel costs and time to go to the cleaner as well.

Dry cleaning isn't actually that good for knitted garments btw as you can't reshape them after and if the dry cleaner then steam sets them they can end up distorted. Much better kept for woven cloth.

Rainy-Days

The only thing I ever wash my wool and cashmere items with is a Lakeland product called Woolmix. It is expensive I will grant you, but I only use a small amount and it is so kind to clothes. I think I replaced it earlier this year after the previous bottle ran out after having it for three years so you can see it is really economical.

It smells really devine too a very gentle lavender smell. I just hand wash everything in warm water, rinse put some fabric conditioner in and then I dry them flat. Thats it

zippychick

ive merged this with our dry clean only thread which should help

Zip

thisismoneysaving

Good afternoon ladies,

I am hoping you could help me out with my situation please!

I went out last night in fancy dress, however somehow my jacket ended up like this...


The label doesn't tell me what the material is but it's like a very thin cheap and shiny silky material.

It says dry clean only which I'm not going to pay for - the jacket only cost £8 something & I'm not even sure of I'll get to wear it again.

If there's a cheap way of cleaning this up, I would love to know it. If not it'll have to be chucked

I'm hoping you lovely ladies can help me here.

Thank you!

Fruball

Looks like you had a good night :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Chuck it in the machine on a handwash/silk or delicates cycle

floss2

Frugal wrote: »

...Chuck it in the machine on a handwash/silk or delicates cycle

I agree, and pop it into a lingerie bag if you have one.

j.e.j.

..is it dirt from the road? might be worth rubbing a bit of washing-up liquid into the marks before you wash it.