Washing vintage wool scarves?

[Spartcom5]

Hello, I have a scarf from the 1950s made by Saks Fifth Avenue. It's all wool but smells musty and old. Needs a good cleaning!! I refuse to dry clean it as scarves don't hold up well at the dry cleaners. I bought the wool and cashmere shampoo from the Laundress, it has stellar ratings. Before I wash this scarf I tested the shampoo out on a more modern Pendleton, smells nice a clean and even feels a little softer. However....... I feel as if I messed up big time because I was washing it in my sink and it was quite bunched up most of time. Should I use the bath tub instead of the sink or is it fine? I sort of swooshed the scarf around to create suds and then sort of pushed it against the bottom when rinsing it out. When done the scarf was bunched up together because the sink isn't huge... I can't imagine this is good for the scarf? Would this create agitation? Any tips? I could lay it flat out in the bathtub if that is better? Should I buy a wash basin? Any help is great!!

 

[Seb Lucas]

Easy to overthink this - a basin or bucket is fine - warm, not hot water - soak and gently squeeze. Rinse. Done. Dry slow with support.

 

[Spartcom5]

Yea, I probably am overthinking it! Only thing is that I read somewhere that if your woolen garment is bunched up it can cause some of the fibers to hook onto each other effectively shrinking it.

 

[EmergencyIan]

I just have my vintage wool scarves dry cleaned. They turn out just fine.

- Ian