How to Clean a Silk Dress

How to Clean a Silk Dress

Things You Need

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• White vinegar
• Shampoo or mild soap
• Soft sponge
• Thick towels

Note: White vinegar, Shampoo or mild soap, Soft sponge, Thick towels

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If you're afraid to wear your fabulous silk dress to a party for fear of damaging it, a few cleaning tips can help you out and save you big on dry cleaning. While this delicate fabric requires careful handling, most silk clothing does well with hand washing in mild soap. Removing stains from a silk evening dress is a little trickier, but it is still something you can do at home. You do, however, need the right technique to avoid roughening or dulling the fabric. Find out how to wash a silk dress correctly so your dress keeps its soft texture and original color for years.

Cleaning Silk Dresses: Spot treat stains. Blotting silk clothing with cool water will treat most food stains. For perspiration or deodorant stains, apply diluted vinegar to the area with a soft sponge. Fill a clean sink or washtub with lukewarm water. Add two or three drops of hair shampoo or mild soap and stir the water to create lather. Immerse the silk dress and let it soak for no more than five minutes. Rub stained or very dirty spots with soapy water. Use your fingers or a soft sponge to apply very light pressure. Avoid scrubbing the silk, which can permanently damage the fibers. Drain the warm water and fill the sink with cool water. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to neutralize alkalinity and remove traces of soap. This softens the silk and restores its shine. For extra softness, add a few drops of hair conditioner. Use this water to rinse the dress. Replace the used water with fresh water. Rinse the silk dress again in pure, cool water with no fabric softeners or other additives. Turn the dress as you rinse it to ensure water runs over all areas of the garment and no traces of soap remain. Remove the dress from the water. Spread the dress on a thick terry-cloth towel and roll it up in the towel, pressing as you go, to absorb excess water. Lay the dress flat on another dry towel or a sweater dryer to air dry.

Tips:

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• If you have hard water, add one teaspoon of borax to the water for the wash and the first rinse water.
• Brighten white silk by adding one teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide to the wash.
• If you want your dress to dry more quickly, use a sweater dryer, a net stretched over a frame. A sweater dryer is ideal for drying silk items because it lets the garment lie flat but receive air from both sides.
• Very delicate silk items, such as silk brocade or dresses with beading, require dry cleaning to avoid damage. Don't submerge a dress such as this in water.
• Before treating stains or cleaning a silk dress, check for color fastness. Dampen the fabric or apply your preferred stain remover to an inconspicuous part of the dress. If the color runs or changes, dry clean the dress.

How to clean silk

Although relatively durable, silk is protein fiber similar to human hair and does require special care to stay looking good. By knowing the right way to clean, dry, iron, and store silk, one can keep the silk garments in top condition for years.

1. Washing silk. All silk is washable, however you should treat silk as you would treat your hair. No harsh detergents, no excessive drying or heat. Dry cleaning is possible, but hand washing is recommended for silk items to maintain the natural luster. Silk can be hand washed in cool or lukewarm water using a mild detergent. Because silk resists dirt and stains, only a small amount of soap should be used. A good shampoo works well on silk. It will remove oil and revitalize your silk. Do not use an alkaline shampoo or one which contains ingredients such as wax, petroleum, or their derivatives, as these products will leave a residue on your silk and may cause "oil" spots. Technically, silk does not shrink like other fibers. If the silk fabric is not tightly woven, washing silk will tighten up the weave...thus, lighter weights of silk can be improved by washing as it will tighten up the weave. A tightly woven silk will not "shrink" or will "shrink" a lot less.
   Thai silk does not tolerate abrupt changes in temperature very well, so stay with one water temperature throughout the wash. Avoid soaking silk as this may fade the dye. To revive faded or yellowed colors rinse the silk fabric in water with a few tablespoons of white vinegar.
   
2. Drying silk. To dry silk cloth do not wring but roll the silk item up in a bath towel and gently press the water out.
3. Ironing silk. Silk may yellow and fade with the use of a high iron setting. Dampen the silk garment with water before ironing. To avoid damage, turn the item inside out and iron on the reverse side of the fabric on a cotton-covered ironing board. Use a low setting and it is recommended not to use steam.
4. Storing silk. Keep the silk garment away from heat sources or direct sunlight.

History of Thai Silk

One of the crafts that can well express national culture and creativeness is textiles as these have for quite a long time been indispensable. In Thailand, fabric weaving has been practised since prehistoric times and rural society has regarded it as a women's duty during spare time after work in the fields. The development of both colours and designs of the finished products have been a result of the weavers' own imagination and a long heritage as well as some other factors. In the old days fabrics were a kind of status symbol; there were fabrics for the common people to be used either everyday or on special occasions like merit-making, traditional rituals or important festivities, fabrics for the upper class including the king and the royal family and finally those for the Buddhist monks.

Thai fabrics have a great number of designs, usually distinguished by region. Northern women have been considered very skillful weavers, especially of cotton fabrics. They started by weaving for domestic use and then produced for export as well. It is said that during the twentieth and twenty-first century BE the northern part of Thailand which was known as the Laan Na Kingdom produced many good fabrics for sale in neighbouring states, some of which were Pha Si Chan Khao, Pha Si Chan Daeng, Pha Si Dok Champa etc.. During the Sukhothai Period, about 700 years ago, besides the ordinary coloured ones, a five-colour fabric was produced, commonly known as Pha Benjarong. Different groups of people then produced their own fabrics; court people for example would make fabrics for themselves and ordered some fabrics from abroad. As history has it, silk began to be imported from China during that time. Besides clothing, people began to use fabrics for other purposes such as home decoration (long flags) and other household items (pillows, mattresses, curtains). Fabrics during the Ayudhya Kingdom which was about 400 years ago assumed another important role besides materials for clothing and decoration-they were used as money. They were sometimes given by the king instead of money for rewards and often for the annual remuneration, hence the term Pha Wad Raipee (pha = fabric or cloth, wad = pension raipee = annual).

These were generally special types of fabrics, usually embroidered. Trouser-shaped cloths called Pha Jong krabane, loin cloth or Pha khaoma and women's wraps called Sabai began to appear as daily clothing.At the present time, weaving is done mostly in the northern and north-eastern regions. Their products differ due to the influence of regional beliefs as well as the traditions of minority groups. Northerners like to weave both cotton and silk with raised patterns or yok dok (brocade) whereas north-easterners namely the Lao minority groups prefer producing mudmee fabrics using the ikat or resist dying technique. The Lao Song minority is, however, the exception as their preference is that of the northerners. Fabrics produced locally are grouped into three categories according to their weaving methods: Plain cloths, chintz and brocades.