Washing dry clean only clothes

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Fuck going to the drycleaner. I have been a idiot lately and bought TWO lovely items of clothing which, after wearing, I have realised are dry clean only. One is a linen shirt, the other is a half-wool, half-cotton jumper.

Can anyone who knows stuff tell me how I can wash them at home with only a washing machine and a sink?

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:14 (twenty years ago)

just don't wash it and fabreeze

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:17 (twenty years ago)

Cold water? Dry the jumper flat though. Actually there are a couple of vintage beaded dresses I have that dry cleaners won't go near in case they fall to bits. I've found steaming them/ sponging them down to be helpful.
If you do wash the jumper make sure you dry it flat.

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:19 (twenty years ago)

I have a dryclean only jumper which survives handwashing, but needs drying flat

oops x-post

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:20 (twenty years ago)

I would handwash the jumper in lukewarm water. Maybe use the rinse and drain cycle of the machine on it to save some hassle.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:20 (twenty years ago)

DRY THE JUMPER FLAT GODAMNITT!

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:23 (twenty years ago)

YES DRY IT FLAT.

Someone once told me that most dry-clean only clothes can be washed *but* that once you've dry-cleaned them once, then you have to keep on doing dry-cleaning not washing. This sounds like bunk to me but I pass it on anyway.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:23 (twenty years ago)

Should I dry it all scrunched up?

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:29 (twenty years ago)

dare you to try it

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:29 (twenty years ago)

Stick it in the hottest tumble-dryer cycle for a couple of hours.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:31 (twenty years ago)

Linen shirt should be fine in washer w/ COLD water with gentle cycle w/ no spin. Iron on low heat. Under no conditions apply hot water/steam to this shirt.

Handwash sweater in sink. Lie flat on towl and use towel to roll the sweater up, taking some of the water out of the sweater. Then lay flat on a different towel to finish drying.

― marianna (mariannapm), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:31 (twenty years ago)

I used to lay mine across the duckboards of my shower floor, if you have such things.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:32 (twenty years ago)

You'll need an old priest and a young priest.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:32 (twenty years ago)

I would handwash both. You don't have to dry a jumper flat if you do this:

- Fold a large, pale-coloured towel in half and lay on a flat surface
- Lay the jumper flat on top of the towel
- Roll it up into a big sausage and press down so the towel absorbs the moisture

I still wouldn't peg it, because nobody likes peg marks, but you'll be able to stick it on your clothes horse with the rest of your laundry now because there won't be enough water in it to weigh down the fabric and pull it out of shape. The linen shirt can be towelled in the same manner and hung on a non-metal hanger to dry.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

Ah, Marianna uses the towel method too.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:36 (twenty years ago)

I think using sausages is ridiculous and wasteful.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

how did people clean their clothes before dry-cleaners emerged? In documentary film "The Man Who Wasn't There" it is revealed that dry-cleaners only appeared in the 1950s. So before that did a lot of people have very stinky clothes?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

i watched an episode of brainiac about this, i think it was brainiac, apparently people used to clean their clothes with wee which is full of ammonia and they have to put it in a bucket and stamp on it for hours. sounds horrible.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

actually it wasn't brainiac but something like "worst jobs of victorian britain" or something.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

or maybe it's medieval times. i don't remember

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

Dry-cleaning coincided with the development of unnatural fabrics, probably as a way to get rid of all those surplus military solvents.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

Handwash and then put it flat (on a towel). Never ever hang it up unless you want to stretch it to infinitum.

― nathalie, a bum like you (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

What's the best way to shrink the strethed arms of an old silk sweater?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

Scissors.

― nathalie, a bum like you (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

Set fire to it.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

Knitted things can be blocked into shape - dampen it, then lay it out on a towel or screen and gently pull the sleeves back into shape. Let it dry completely.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

Not on a TV screen, though.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

How do I go about pulling something that's too long into something shorter. I can only think of... pushing.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

Crank up the airconditioning. Cold air makes a penis shrink, so perhaps it'll work on your laundry too.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

well if it's anything like a penis if you keep pulling at it eventually it'd release a bunch of dampness and shrink too.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

coincidentally, alba's nickname, at school, was "penis sleeves"

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

If you really did have a penis in each of your sleeves, you'd give people such a shock when you shook hands with them. It'd make a visit to the bank manager so much more entertaining.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

so i've never had anything dry cleaned in my life.

i have a suit i wore to two weddings recently that is going to have to be dry cleaned - but i'm not sure if i should have anything else done while i'm at it.

i bought an armani shirt for nothing when i was in Istanbul and i'd like to take proper care of it. the tag has those washing instructions/symbols for machine washing (cool water) and dry cleaning. not sure if i should wash it with the rest of my cloths or have it dry cleaned when i take my suit in.

― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:59 (fifteen years ago)

I find dry cleaning almost always has better results but I suck at washing clothes so

― Face Book (dyao), Thursday, 27 May 2010 23:45 (fifteen years ago)

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