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I saw this dress I just love but it's got a dry clean only label.
I am just too frugal to take stuff to the dry cleaners so I never buy anything with that label.
But I really want this dresss.
Has anyone done this at home? I read where you can hand wash in cold water and that works sometimes. Also read about some Dryel product (which I had used in the past) for the dryer.
I have used Dryel. And I think it is a decent alternative. Dry clean only in water/hand wash? That's iffy. If depends on the fabric. I have seen some fabrics that get water stains easily. Others shrink. Some turn out fine. If it is a jersey material, it is probably fine.
But frankly I'd return it. If you don't want to dry clean it. Why risk ruin?
I saw this dress I just love but it's got a dry clean only label.
I am just too frugal to take stuff to the dry cleaners so I never buy anything with that label.
But I really want this dresss.
Has anyone done this at home? I read where you can hand wash in cold water and that works sometimes. Also read about some Dryel product (which I had used in the past) for the dryer.
It's going to depend on the fabric. If it is a rayon crepe, handwashing won't work. Woven rayon you can handwash. If it's silk, absolutely you can handwash.
I am a knitter; about 75% of all the tops I wear are of my own work. The fibers in my yarn are all natural -- merino wool, silk, cashmere, pima cotton, linen, alpaca, llama, qiviut, bamboo, soy, etc. -- and if the clothing I made were sold at the stores, they would be labeled as dry clean only. However, I never take my hand knitted clothing to the dry cleaner. Why? Because there is no way I could afford the cost when I wear dry-clean-only fabric on daily basis. Instead, I wash them all by hand, in Eucalan, a special liquid we knitters use. It's a lanolin-enriched no-rinse delicate wash, extremely good for delicate fibers. I have yet to shrink any item of hand-knit clothing accidentally. In my experience, the agitation of a washing machine is what cause damage to the fiber, not the water, so if I were you, I would not hesitate to wash the dress by hand. I would let the dress soaked long enough to saturate the fibers, wash it gently, then roll it in a towel to squeeze out excess water without wringing or twisting the fabric, then line dry or hang dry.
You probably would not want to spend money on Eucalan if you only have one dry-clean item of clothing, but Woolite would work as well. Use less than what recommended on the bottle, and rinse well.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 04-29-2012 at 04:14 PM..
I saw this dress I just love but it's got a dry clean only label.
I am just too frugal to take stuff to the dry cleaners so I never buy anything with that label.
But I really want this dresss.
Has anyone done this at home? I read where you can hand wash in cold water and that works sometimes. Also read about some Dryel product (which I had used in the past) for the dryer.
Yes, you can lightly hand wash almost ANY material.
I have a BIG skirt suit collection, but one of my most treasured skirt suits are the discontinued polyester JCPenny East 5th skirt suits - they were all conveniently machine wash so if they acquired armpit smell - you can just soak it in Tide.
They I noticed one of my cheap $29 but good Kasper suits had a terrible stain all over the arms and some of the jacket. I thought this would be an expensive dry cleaning bill so I said what the heck - I'll soak it in Tide. Well, Tide and water and rubbing off the stained areas got off all the stains! Next I let it soak overnight then I left it to dry. When it was all dry I was as if it was at the dry cleaners - all nice and clean. So I'm guessing all my other dry clean skirt suits of similar material might be ok with hand washing / soaking / rubbing in Tide.
I was just about to post a thread like this when the OP posted this!
That Eucalan stuff is sure expensive even on Amazon. I'd just resort to soaking in water & Tide instead!
That Eucalan stuff is sure expensive even on Amazon. I'd just resort to soaking in water & Tide instead!
Yes, Eucalan is expensive but it lasts a very long time since it's concentrate and you do not use more than half of the cap. I have been washing my hand knitted weekly for almost five years now, and I am only in my third bottle.
Knitters use Eucalan because it's much gentler to the fibers than any detergent out there, because wool does not need to be soaked in all the soapy and sudsy stuff and become too heavy to dry, because no rinse is wonderful, and because Eucalan is rich with lanolin, which helps to soften wool with each wash. I use Woolite for other delicate items that are not wool or hand knitted.
I have used Dryel. And I think it is a decent alternative. Dry clean only in water/hand wash? That's iffy. If depends on the fabric. I have seen some fabrics that get water stains easily. Others shrink. Some turn out fine. If it is a jersey material, it is probably fine.
But frankly I'd return it. If you don't want to dry clean it. Why risk ruin?
Dryel is a good "in between" method to give you an extra couple wears out of a garment, but I don't fully "trust" it - I still use the drycleaners, but will use Dryel as a stop gap.
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