Tips On How To Clean And Preserve Your Delicates
The mention of the word ‘delicate’ will have many people thinking of innerwear: the bras and panties. However, the clothes that fall under the category of ‘delicates’ are those that require a milder approach of cleaning to avoid damaging them during the regular wash cycle. Such wear includes silk shirts, padded bike shorts, silk ties and scarf, lingerie, and most of the expensive clothes you have in your wardrobe.
Below are a few tips on how you can handle your delicates to get them clean without any damages.
Read The Label
Most delicates have labels that give specific instructions on how to wash and iron them. Some may even stipulate the detergent to use, the water temperatures, and the method to wash the clothes. You should make sure that you follow the directions given for each of your delicates if you do not want to damage them.
If you have clothes with no labels, you should use mild detergents on them. Moreover, you should wash them by hand in lukewarm water as opposed to throwing them in the washing machine.
Pro Tip: Some of the brightly colored garments, such as those made of dyed silk, tend to bleed when washed. You should identify them and separate them from other delicates so that you can handwash them in a separate basin. You, however, should try and keep the washing of such clothes to a minimum so that you preserve their colors.
Hand-Washing Your Delicates
As mentioned, you should hand-wash your delicate garments. For this, you will need to fill a basin or a plugged sink with water. Add a teaspoon of mild detergent or what you believe will be enough. After that, throw in the delicates and swirl them around using your hands for a couple of minutes. When hand-washing them, do not scrub, bunch, or twist your clothes to avoid damaging the fabric.
Rinse And Repeat
You will need another bucket full of clean water for rinsing the clothes. You can just as well drain the first basin and refill it with fresh water for rinsing. Repeat the rinsing process until the water is clear.
Prepare For Drying
Once you are done with rinsing, making sure you do not wring the clothes but gently squeezing the water out, they will be ready to dry. Wringing and twisting the garments can damage their delicate fabric
You can use a clean, lint-free towel to blot out as much of the remaining water as possible. It will help reduce the drying time. You will have to place the clothes on a soft, flat surface and then press the towel down softly on the garment so that it absorbs the water.
Dry Your Delicates
You may have to reshape some of the delicates, such as the padded bike shorts and bras before you dry them. It helps preserve their form, keeping them looking nice for a long time.
Once you are done reshaping them, you can hand-dry them in two ways. You can lay them on a flat, clean surface and dub them with a lint-free towel. For this, you will have to flip the garment over severally to achieve an even dryness. You also may need to get an extra dry towel if the one you are using gets too soaked to do the job.
Hanging them on a clean drying rack is the other alternative. Have the garments that bleed dyes on the lower tiers so that they do not stain the other clothes. Ensure you have a clean towel or absorbent cloth placed on the drying rack before you drape your delicates.
Talk to the professionals at Maid Clan today. You can call us for more information.