100% silk, says dry clean - would a cold wash work?

[Seriestwo]

Just that. I bought a silk top on Vinted, label says dry clean only. I’m hoping a cold wash would work, or hand wash? If I have to take it to the dry cleaners I’ll never wear it!

I delicate wash my silks, including those which say dry clean only, and it's working out so far. I wash them as little as possible tho - that's part of the trick with wools and silks. I always wear a cotton base layer and air the silk after wearing.

Oh, that makes sense. I got a mark on it from the sap of flowers that I held awkwardly, but that came out with just spot cleaning with cold water.

thanks, I’ll air it and see if I can get another wash out of it.

Spot clean and air on a hanger on the line until you really need to wash it then, by hand in cold, drip dry.

Thanks so much! Im
grateful, I don’t want to ruin my top, which I would without this help!

DH has many silk shirts and all have been hand washed and drip dried. No problem. Main thing is not to wring water out but roll flattened in a towel much as you would a wool item

Is it heavily dyed or with any embellishments such as beads / sequins / unusual buttons? If not, I’d risk it. Karen Millen customer services once told me some brands say dry clean only purely as it costs brands a lot to get garments tested for machine cleaning durability in order to claim on the label that’s it’s safe. I was pretty surprised!

My DH has a pair of silk PJs, I washed them in the machine at 30 degrees and they were fine.

If it's white then it would be fine.
If its coloured you can handwash it cold but you will get some colour run even very cold - the colour leeches out - so it won't be as vibrant or dark or whatever colour it was. The more times you wash it, the more that will happen.
It's definitely better to dry clean coloured silks in preference to washing.

I have a lot of silk dresses and use the silk & wool detergent on delicate cycle and no problems so far.

These days I through everything in the wash and if it survives I keep it, if it does not I toss it, especially if I buy it second hand. 🤣

I have a cold setting on my washing machine and wash all my cashmere and silk on it. I buy it all second hand and it lasts for years

I also do this and it works well. I use minimal fabric conditioner (just a splash, to counteract hard water) as I heard it can spoil the texture of silk. Never had any colour run

Wash cold, with a gentle detergent and either in a special wash protector bag, or in a knotted pillow case

I find silk washed in a machine comes out in a shrivelled, paper-y ball, that needs teasing out and careful ironing, but it's do-able

I would wash silk on a cold or cool wash but not wool.

I made sure my washing machine has delicates and wool cycles. I detest hand-washing.

I have a lot of silk - it all survives being washed in the machine. It might not have quite as long a life as handwashing (but I don't buy control garments to test this,) but I will have a longer life that is not ground down by handfasting.

Silk is fairly sturdy. I have silk bedding, which has survived inadvertently going through a 90° wash. I would be careful if it's got embroidery or sequins etc, though.

And do not put wool through on a hotter wash. It will shrink (and make Mum shout, but the big Teddy did like the tank top which now fitted him....) it's a lesson everyone has to go through, I suspect

Never had any colour run

You will have done but just not noticed it. If you had a new top and put it next to your washed one, over time the difference in colour will be really stark.

The colour of a bright silk will lessen every time you put it in water and the same for a dark silk, if you wash it enough a black silk top will end up gray. It's very incremental if you wash it in cold but it's why washing is discouraged.

I also only wash my stuff when it needs it - actually dirty or smelly. Mine a mostly tunics/short A line dresses that I wear for work.

What about spraying with vodka and leaning to air dry, is that a myth?

Spraying with a solvent and letting it dry doesn't clean an item, it merely gets it wet

Some attempt has to be made to remove whatever causing the stain