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March 31, 2023
Care of our clothes
You know we spend a lot of time - a whole lot - on the envisioning, creating, and making our clothes. And after we do, most of the time we get what we want. We surely get a lot better than what we can buy in the store.
I have a client I'm making a pair of pants for - ponte (she has no idea yet), and I've made the rise very high (from the top of the inseam to the top of the waistband), because that's one of the things we can do. She's loving it. She gets to pick where her waist is and she gets to make it high in the back and lower in the front. She's in love with this. Now that I have a pattern, it will be a cinch to make up a pair
of pants for her, so she's really liking this. But she had no idea the options that were available. Sometimes I think we sewists lose sight of that, and take it for granted how individualized we can make our clothes.
So with all that individualization and creativity, it really is worth it to take care of these beautiful garments we've made. There are a couple of hard fast rules I keep when taking care of my wardrobe that have served me very well.
TECHNIQUES
The Professional Cleaners
The people's job is to get that spot out and sometimes I think they aren't above getting the fabric out with the spot. That's to say that this is probably the worst thing you can do to your clothes. Why? Because the treatment of a professional cleaning company can be hugely hard on a garment. If there is any sizing or other delicate treatment to the fabric, it's toast in the cleaning process. If there's any
delicate shaping, it's gone in the cleaning process. If there's any delicate buttons or other ornaments (and that means metalic yarns) they can also be damaged beyond repair in the cleaning process.
The only thing I might use the cleaners for is some sort of spot cleaning - where they treat the area that's dirty and that's all. Of course there's the exception to every rule and Uncle Harry spilling red wine all over Blossom's beautiful lace/silk organza dress with the heirloom veil. That's a case for the dress to go to the cleaners. The veil - ummmm probably not. If that happens in your family -- I got some
things to try first. Certainly that preservation gimmick, I would never do that to a wedding gown. They scrunch into a little box where the creases in the fabric cause the fabric to break along those lines and there's no recovery after that.
And alas, wool shrinks - that's just the nature of the beast. If you get something all over a wool garment, your only option is dry cleaning. The best thing to do is take it to the cleaners and ask them if they can get it out. If they are dancing all about, blinking their eyes incessantly or a big blinking neon sign saying "lying" appears over their head, leave immediately. But if they answer as honest as possible, you
can say, "it's OK if you can't get it out, I just want to be sure this garment isn't damaged," and they respond, OK - if they can't get it out they won't try! I'm lucky cause there's a cleaners in my town that can and will do that. They are very reliable. I also tell my clients to go to the cleaners you know the best or trade with, and tell them that if they mess it up you'll take all your business elsewhere. That usually gets the
honest quickly.
The good news is that most cleaners are set up to work with wool, because they know they are the only game in town. The use a naptha based substance (that's why it stinks so badly when they're finished with it), and they put it in a tub and swish it all around. If anything you might say, "Please use fresh solution when cleaning my garment," which lets them know that you are aware of the process. Those are the best
questions you can ask on using dry cleaners, when you absolutely have to.
So What Else Can You Do?
There are tons of things out there to help you work through all the cleaning you might have to do to your wardrobe. Here are some of my favorites.
For formal wear:
Most of the time you don't wear this a lot, it's worn once in a blue moon, and when you wear it, you bring it home, hang it so that the wrinkles and order can air out. This is as gentle and life-prolonging technique that you can do, because most of the time, this is all the garment needs.
If there's a stain or someone has spilled "red" wine on the garment and it shows, work with that area alone. I've had this happen to me before - on a bright shiny gold satin, with a beautiful iridescent toned-down gold chiffon on top. Both extremely delicate fabrics, and something I would dream of sending to the cleaners. I simply ran some warm water with a little oxi-clean dissolved into the water and let it soak over
night. This was immediately after I got home so that the stain didn't have too much time to set. I swish it around and pull out some of the stained area to make sure the stain is out, otherwise I will let it soak a little longer. Then I put a rack (like a oven rack, cleaned, under the garment in the dishwasher, and pulled it out of the water, without putting any undue stress on any part of the garment. I let that rest on the top for about 15 minutes to drain.
Then set aside over a towel while I let the washing machine go through it's cycle to drain the tub and run a tub of clean water for rinse. Lower the gown back into the tub and swish it around gently, then pull it out with the oven rack again, and let it drain, then put to the side over a towel and let the machine finish it's cycle. After the gown has drained, I took it on one of my padded hangers (that's all I like to use - yes, I'm in the "no more wire
hangers" club 😁), and hand the garment over the bathtub on the shower head. I check it and in a couple of hours when it's still damp, I'll put the iron on it (I have a Teflon shoe on the iron so don't worry about a sheen from the sole of the iron plate), and press it, and it's gorgeous!
This is probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do - wash a ball gown, but it came out beautifully. But I also knew how it was made and where the delicate parts were.
But to be perfectly honest, I offered a service to my debs that when they had finished one deb ball, I would take the dress back and freshen it up for the second deb ball. The girls had tons of asphalt and grime and heaven knows what all else on the hems of their dresses and with a number of different products I was able to clean them up.
That's when I discovered Naptha Bars
This stuff is absolutely great with gas or naptha-based stains, like asphalt. I couldn't believe how well it works. I use it today for the same thing, when Walt has some tar substance (I don't ask where it came from just what it is anymore!) This is a wonderful treatment.
And this is one of my other great treatments. This works best in a soak and for a couple of hours at the least. Sometimes, I'm known to get a concentrated mixture. It comes with a 1/4 c measure, dissolved and mixed well (it has little tiny blue dot type things in it and let those dissolve cause those can stain the fabric), and about a cup in a load of wash in the washing machine and let the garment soak - even
over night. It can work wonders.
 
This stuff is amazing, especially on grimy stains, like around the cuff and collar. I use it on my hoodie, that I made at just the right length so that it's long enough and yet comfy enough. But I wear it all winter and around my wrists, it's gets that grimy look and this mixture cleans it right up. I apply a little water to the area, and then spread this mixture on it so that it gets right on the area that needs it the most.
Let it soak over night in the washing machine, then wash as usual.
I also use this on our white sheets, because Walt's complexion is a little oily and it discolors the white a bit, but this takes it right out. I love that it's not corrosive like Clorox can be. Of course Clorox is great on white when nothing else works.
OK - so enough about soap. Most of the time the technique I use depends upon the construction of the garment. If the garment is a tailored jacket with pad stitching and shoulder pads, I'm more likely to do spot removing on that. But if the whole garment is soiled (Uncle Harry has gone berserk again), then I'll take out the shoulder pads, and do a good soak, being careful not to let the machine do any agitating.
Back to the techniques.
Most of my daily wear is knit, and most of the time, I hang my knit outside my closet after I've worn it for the day and let it air out and hang out the wrinkles, and then check it in the morning. If it needs laundering, usually it's got an odor to it, or I've noticed a spot where I've missed my mouth - as astonishing as that sounds! Then I'll put it in the laundry. If it's okay, it goes into the closet to wear
again.
This also takes care of that pesky knee or butt spring you can get in your ponte pants. Hang them overnight and they look straight as the day you made them.
When I do wash my knits, the really fine ones, I'll put in the wash, like colors, and wash regularly, but I will hang to dry. This really saves your knits from pilling and mis-shaping.
If my knits are really sturdy, tee shirts, underwear, socks and that sort of thing, I'll put those in the dryer.
OK - the closet.
Let's talk a little about hangers, and I promise not to go all "Mommie Dearest" on you. But the truth is that wire hangers aren't all that great for your clothing. Additionally, my contention is that if you have cloth, wooden or another sort of padded hanger, and you are jamming that into your closet, you've got too many clothes and need to do a closet cleaning. You can
avoid it for as long as you want, but that's another reason I love the padded hangers. It prevents you from jamming too many clothes into your closet and cramming them next to each other so that there's no preservation of shape. It comes out of your closet like a piece of paper. We are not paper dolls and we do not wear 2-dimensional clothing!
For expense, it's really not all that bad: $33/24 hangers. And remember you're going to use these over and over again. (BTW click any of these pics for the link to where to purchase them.)
The really do not only make you feel special and make your closet more navigable, but they save that shoulder and keep it from looking like you were trying to poke a hole in the shoulder.
For my jackets, I really prefer a nice, stable wooden hanger.
And again you're not going to throw these away when you change clothing on them, and for your beautifully tailored ponte jacket?... really would you want anything less? You might not even need this many and find this cheaper in a lesser quantity.
And to the pièce de résistance....the pants hanger.
I cannot tell you how much this little tool has saved my pants in my closet. I tried the waist hanger. I tried the fancy wooden clamp hanger (pants kept falling out). I tried clothes line hangers on wire hangers....uh no...talking about sliding everywhere then ending up in the bottom of the closet. These little jewels above are the best thing you can hang your pants on. This is what I give to my
clients for whom I make pants. And then with a little QR code of where to get more from Amazon (click the photo above for that link). They are sturdy, work beautifully and if you get clamp marks on your pants, simply use some packing foam from Home Depot to cut
and glue onto the inside of your clamps.
I know some of these may sound expensive. But you write the check once for some of these tools, and you use them over and over and over and wonder why you had so much anxiety over it to start with.
The SewingArtistry Resource Library is designed to contain information to not only make your sewing better, but to aid you in fit and flattery of your shape, size and style. Check it out.
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