The Cleaning Clothes (vintage or other) Thread

[crwritt]

I hand wash my cashmere in a sink basin with a capful of Redken Smooth Down Shampoo. Made to keep wild and woolly hair tame, it was too heavy on my hair and left it lifeless, but I really liked the scent so I began to use it for handwashables and discovered it made my cashmere fluffy and almost thicker feeling.

I've heard advice to treat your hair like a cashmere sweater.

 

[Lily Powers]

Great minds think alike!

:cheers1:

I've heard advice to treat your hair like a cashmere sweater.

Hmmmm.... that might involve hanging my head out the open window to air dry after wash. ...There are days when the male member of the household might think that's not such a bad idea!

 

[LinaSofia]

I need some advice on cleaning a vintage 40s cotton dress with a hand-painted pattern. I normally hand wash my vintage clothes in a delicate washing liquid, but I'm not sure if this is a good idea with this. The fabric is a heavier kind of cotton weave (I'm completely clueless when it comes to fabric!!). In places the hand-painted pattern has bled slightly, which makes me worried about getting it wet. Perhaps I should just try it somewhere inconspicuous, but generally, would you hand wash a fabric with hand-painted details or dry clean it?

thanks!

 

[Tuesday_Next]

RE: woolens (cashmere, wool, mohair, etc)
The rule to washing woolens these safely is to use the same temperature water to soak that you use to rinse. Cold to cold. Do not shock the fibers. DO NOT agitate. Soak. Remove from water and then refill with clean water to rinse. Do not ring out your garment. Squeeze the water out and then roll it up in a dry towel to remove the additional moisture.

To save a step, try a delicate wash that does not need to be rinsed. I use a liquid called Kookaburra (Might have butchered the spelling). Many delicate wool wash liquids do not need to be rinsed. Just check the label.

 

[sheeplady]

I need some advice on cleaning a vintage 40s cotton dress with a hand-painted pattern. thanks!

LinaSofia- what are the handpainted details like? Is it thick paint? Is it cracked (looks like an alligator's skin) anyplace? Where it has run, does it look blurry all the way around the painted item, or just on one side? Is just one color looking runny? Is it more runny on one place on the dress?

Sorry for so many questions, but I've had things run in the water and run while drying and seen things that have already run (before I bought them) but never had them run on me.

I would try washing it, personally, by doing a spot test with a little water and a rag, but I hate drycleaners.

 

[Drappa]

I just came across this after a tip from a quilter, and was wondering if anyone on here has used this? Does it work?
http://retroclean.com/

 

[MaryMary]

Wow! Drappa that stuff looks amazing, if it actually does work...I was won over just by their web site....hahaha

 

[MaryMary]

I have been trying to search on here for cleaning knitted dresses, 30's to 50's....I have a few of them and some are pretty dingy. Would these be dry clean only items?

 

[Miss Sis]

Mary, I usually just handwash as you would a jumper/sweater in tepid water with a wool wash. Adding some Borax really helps to shift grime out of knits too. Only I'd remove any buttons before washing, especially if they are covered ones as they often have metal bits underneath that can bleed rust and other buttons can craze, break or change colour.

 

[LinaSofia]

Drappa, that looks like amazing stuff if it actually works! I've never seen it before.

I also have a question... does anyone know if it's 'safe' to handwash a cotton dress with a hand-painted pattern? I've got a dress with an abstract print literally painted onto the fabric. It's bled a little in a few places, which is why I'm worried about getting it wet. But I'm assuming it must be ok to hand wash in lukewarm water?

 

[Miss Golightly]

The other day I picked up this green satin dress that I bought some time ago from the dry cleaners - it has a kind of a flap of fabric to the front and there was a greasy spot on it - it was my first time cleaning it (was hoping to wear it for dinner last weekend) - the second I saw the dress I could see the damage to where the greasy spot was - there was now no spot but a whitish mark and a small hole - the dry cleaners never mentioned it to me which really annoyed me. They are usually pretty good for cleaning things (however they did put a pin through one of my Hermes scarves and not through the label!!!!!!!) but I think from now on I will bring delicates elsewhere. Think I may have to either take some width off the flap of fabric or remove it altogether - I wish I had had a go on the stain myself before sending it over to them to clean.......

 

[Miss Golightly]

Drappa, that looks like amazing stuff if it actually works! I've never seen it before.

I also have a question... does anyone know if it's 'safe' to handwash a cotton dress with a hand-painted pattern? I've got a dress with an abstract print literally painted onto the fabric. It's bled a little in a few places, which is why I'm worried about getting it wet. But I'm assuming it must be ok to hand wash in lukewarm water?

My Mum had a handpainted dress when she was younger - I could ask her and see how she cleaned it - will get back to you!

Ok - I just spoke to my Mum and she said that she didn't wash her dress - she just hung it out to air it as she was afraid that the paint would run if she washed it. She said that she only got a few wears out of it as the dress was made from a really stiff fabric and it split after a short time. Sorry I can't be of any more assistance....

 

[LinaSofia]

My Mum had a handpainted dress when she was younger - I could ask her and see how she cleaned it - will get back to you!

Ok - I just spoke to my Mum and she said that she didn't wash her dress - she just hung it out to air it as she was afraid that the paint would run if she washed it. She said that she only got a few wears out of it as the dress was made from a really stiff fabric and it split after a short time. Sorry I can't be of any more assistance....

thanks for going to the trouble of asking your mum!! hmm, maybe I'll just do the same and air it after wearings. It's quite a fancy dress so it's going to be saved for special occasions anyway, I just have to make sure I don't spill anything on it!

 

[LinaSofia]

The other day I picked up this green satin dress that I bought some time ago from the dry cleaners - it has a kind of a flap of fabric to the front and there was a greasy spot on it - it was my first time cleaning it (was hoping to wear it for dinner last weekend) - the second I saw the dress I could see the damage to where the greasy spot was - there was now no spot but a whitish mark and a small hole - the dry cleaners never mentioned it to me which really annoyed me. They are usually pretty good for cleaning things (however they did put a pin through one of my Hermes scarves and not through the label!!!!!!!) but I think from now on I will bring delicates elsewhere. Think I may have to either take some width off the flap of fabric or remove it altogether - I wish I had had a go on the stain myself before sending it over to them to clean.......

that's terrible! In my experience it really differs from place to place how good they are and how much understanding they have for how to care for different things. I had a thai silk wedding dress dry cleaned once, and I asked that they didn't iron it whatever they did, but when I picked it up they had ironed it and put weird creases all along the sides they just had no clue.

 

[cookie]

This was posted on SF. A professional cleaner outlining the cleaning of a vintage suit.


http://www.ravefabricare.com/true-q...ation-of-a-garment-mid-1930's-men's-suit.aspx

 

[LinaSofia]

I have to admit that when I started out buying and wearing real vintage dresses I didn't have a clue and didn't even think about how to clean them... I just chucked them in the washing machine! I've ruined at least two dresses that way... faded the colours completely.

 

[LinaSofia]

Sorry, here I am again... I just sat here thinking I need to wash my 40s rayon dress and realised perhaps I should ask you girls for some advice first. Would you handwash rayon in delicate laundry liquid? I've read that you should only dry clean it, but I plan on wearing this dress a lot, so I'd prefer to wash it myself, if I can.

 

[Drappa]

Every rayon dress I ever tried to handwash shrunk on me (which is why I now avoid it). I was really careful and laid it out in the bath in lukewarm water and used almost no agitation, but they shrunk regardless. In some cases they can be ironed back into shape, but especially the sleeves on mine shrunk and lost the blousy look they used to have.
I have seen some NOS rayon dresses with tags on them that say they are good for handwashing, but unless you know that I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Miss Sis]

This was posted on SF. A professional cleaner outlining the cleaning of a vintage suit.
http://www.ravefabricare.com/true-q...ation-of-a-garment-mid-1930's-men's-suit.aspx

I've done similar to men's suits at home for my boyfriend with no damage.

Lina Sofia, smooth rayon is much easier to wash than rayon crepe, which has the tendancy to shrink up because of the weave of the fabric. I have washed rayons by hand in a bucket in tepid water with a delicate wash and had no problems. I have found it best to squeeze out as much water as possible by hand then drip dry on a rack as flat as possible, usually on a towel, to support the fabric, then iron on the reverse whilst a tiny bit damp. Never ruined a dress that way yet!

 

[Mario]

This was posted on SF. A professional cleaner outlining the cleaning of a vintage suit.


http://www.ravefabricare.com/true-q...ation-of-a-garment-mid-1930's-men's-suit.aspx

While I'm thoroughly stunned by the outcome of the cleaning process I'm also a mite disappointed that there's actually NO outline of the process itself.