Washing a dry clean garment.

[bonzo77]

I've got a long cotton light weight coat that has some mould specks on it. I suspect the dry cleaners will tell me they cannot guarantee they'll come out. The label says 100% cotton. The coat and lining do feel like cotton. The lining of the sleeves feels like polyester or some kind of fake silk. The coatis hot pink and lining is off white. There are no embellishments apart from the poppers which are concealed. I thought I'd use the hand wash cycle on cold with some bio, dry flat and then iron on the reverse or through a muslin. The main danger I can foresee is the dye not being colour fast, but washing cold, maybe with a colour catcher to protect the lining, should help with this.

Any thoughts?

I'd go for it and risk 40 degrees. I wash everything including linen dresses, silk blouses in the machine. Only tailored jackets go to dry cleaners,

I have hand washed items before that say 'dry clean only' and they have generally turned out fine although have sometimes lost their original shape. I wouldn't use a bio liquid if you think the lining could contain a natural fibre like silk as it can damage it but if you are confident its synthetic then its worth a try.

I always wash dry clean only clothes. Usually in the washing machine on cold/gentle. I have never had a problem. I don't fancy your chances much of getting mould out though, bleach is the only thing that works on that!

I would soak n cold water/bio powder first and then wash cold with a gentle spin. if you can hang out to dry.

I would think the lining might be acetate, which can break down if washed. That would explain a cotton garment being labelled dry clean only especially if it wasn't cheap. If you are thinking of washing the coat, do it by hand in warm water with hand washing detergent and do not let it soak. Gentle spin and reshape while damp.

That's interesting. Thank you. Is there a way of telling if it's polyester or acetate? FWIW it was a fairly expensive coat. Only considering washing as I think it will get the mould out better than dry cleaning.

It should be on the label. Is there perhaps more than one care label? Acetate is made out of wood pulp and tends to be a bit thicker than polyester, but there's no guarantee. If I were you, I would try the gentlest cleaning method first and, providing there's no damage caused, I'd step things up if the mould hasn't come out.

If you can't wear the jacket as it is, then you've nothing to lose.

Update! I washed it in the machine in the 30 deg hand wash cycle with bio powder, having first sprayed the mould with "shout" which is non- bleach stain remover. Dried flat and ironed over a muslin to stop it going shiny. Came out perfect except the lining taking on a bit of pink, I'm very happy!

Excellent result.