I bought the silk suiting fabric that I spoke of in an earlier post.It looks like this only a different color, they no longer have that color in stock.
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It's on the light weight side, feels like it has some kind of of sizing in it. I wonder if I could hand wash it instead of dry cleaning and dry flat. I hate to have any kind of chemicals in my clothing. Recommendations please. Juno
Do you have enough that you could sacrifice a 6" square to a test? I would give that a try before washing the entire piece. You'll know whether the 'hand' is substantially altered, as well as if any shrinkage occurs.
I wash every piece of fabric which comes into this house. Every one. Without exception. I just washed (twice) a piece of upholstery tapestry which is destined to be a lined vest. Washing it discharged the superfluous dye, softened the fabric, and removed the odor; it is now ready to be worked on.
With your lovely silk tweed, I would fill the washing machine with lukewarm water, add detergent and agitate to dissolve it. Then, I would put in the silk, agitate for 30 seconds, and leave it alone for while. Later, I would go back, agitate it again for another 30 seconds, then drain, spin and rinse it, again watching over it so it did not agitate in the rinse cycle for long. I might even rinse it twice. After it had spun, I would put it in a cool dryer for just a few minutes to remove any creases, then hang or drape it over a drying rack. I find that this treatment very rarely hurts any fabric, but it does encourage it to discharge extra dye which might later have rubbed off on other clothing, and it lets the fabric relax so that any shrinkage will happen before I start to work on it. It also lets me know what kind of support (if any) the garment will need.
I know some folk think this is a lot of work, but it generally ensures me a garment which will not run or shrink if I happen to be caught in a rainstorm, and also gives me a garment which can be washed at home rather than having to be drycleaned.
Thanks Olwyn Mary for all your information. The fabric has a definite odor from the dye and I find it very uncomfortable. I had the fabric in a room with the door closed and the room smelled from it. With all my allergies I don't need any more chemicals in my life. I don't think the method you are suggesting is too much to do.It's just a matter of spending a little extra time down by the washing machine. I also have to be sure I do it when my DH the, laundry maven, isn't around. He's have it in the dryer for 50 minutes on high. Juno
Wash a measured swatch, see what happens. My experience is that most will go "flatter" and much limper than the original fabric. Shrinkage can be differential, too.
I have those settings too but I still prefer to "nursemaid" the process through manually, just to be sure. One thing I often do is to preheat the dryer on "warm" before I put the fabric in on the air only setting, it seems to help the creases to drop out.
Indeed yes. Which is I why I prefer to get all that out of the way BEFORE I start to cut and sew, so that I don't get any surprises if, as I said, I get caught in a rainstorm or whatever. I also like to know well in advance what kind of support (interfacing, underlining etc.) will be best for the project. I tend to wear my good clothes for at least a decade, so I want them to last.
I'm with you, Olwyn Mary. Run the fabric through the machine before touching it with scissors. If it disintegrates, shrinks, bleeds, or whatever, it does it before I spend hours working on it. If it survives, it does so without the sizing or other treatment it was given that changes it so much, and I've a much better idea of how to best use it.
Anything I do with the fabric will be before I decide how I will make the skirt. I may end up being a 3 gore or an "A" line. I want the fabric to tell me what to do not me tell the fabric. I think I'll measure it tomorrow and go from there. I got 3 yards so I should be able to come up with something really nice. I'll get back to everyone soon. Thanks for all the help. Juno
That's not a problem here; since DS works during the week, I just make sure my clothes are done before the weekend. He gets up early on Saturday and starts the laundry before I wake up.
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