Curtains - Dry clean or wash them myself?

psso

Could you soak them in the bath with some warm water & soap flakes, then drain off water, rinse a couple of times. Squeeze out most of the water and line dry or over an airer in the bath. Depends what size they are though, you might do yourself a mischief lifting them out !

Bronnie

Barneysmom wrote: »

I don't really understand how cotton can shrink, my pants don't

My mom's curtains shrank by about 8 inches when she washed them, on cool, they were £200 and she wasn't very pleased.
I think there's a spot-cleaning spray you can buy but not sure where to get it from?

Some cotton is preshrunk, ie before its made into garments etc

linni

I always wash mine, if they say dry cleaning only, then I just do them on a wool wash and hang them straight on the line and so far I have never had any problems.. Years ago I had some dry cleaned and it was so expensive I would never do it again. When I washed them they came up so much brighter.

lilac_lady

I washed cream dryclean only curtains and had to replace them because the lining shrunk. Worth a try though!

Bronnie

So, Angelraesunshine, you've had both sides of the issue, :think: what are you going to do?!!

McKneff

My long cream curtains are dry clean only and i wash them regularly with no problems.

northern_star

We have some lined velvet curtains marked 'dry clean only'. Dry cleaners wanted £25 :eek: so I washed them - done it twice now - and they've been fine. Considering your curtains are a few years old - and the cost of dry cleaning may be extortionate - you might choose (as I did) to take the risk. If they get spoilt, at least you have the saved costs of dry cleaning to put towards some new curtains.

boredofbeingathome

Have you thought about using the Dry clean machines?Which can be found in some launderettes. Most of them are about £5. Could be an alternative if the curtains were very expensive.
I have also used low temp delicate washes for some of my curtains and it has been fine.

christabell

I have curtains that are dry clean only.....however they would be too big and heavy for my washing machine. I am afraid to ask how much they would cost to be dry cleaned.....

Penelope_Penguin

We have an existing thread on this subject, so I'll merge this one to it

Penny. x