Hand washing "dry clean only" wool items

[pennycarbonara]

Over and above using cold water, does anyone have advice on this?
How long to soak?
I was going to use Ecover liquid.

These are skirts made of wool suiting or tweed. Another is a cotton and wool blend. They are lined but the lining is only attached at the waist.

Sounds like you have covered it with the cold water and ecover liquid (definitely don't use any standard detergent that will have bleaches and enzymes).

Don't wring out the wool, what I do is squeeze excess water out, lay flat on a towel, roll it up and then stand on the towel (be better if it is a larger towel that can be double folded).

A lot of clothing care labels now err on the side of caution, so people can't claim as easily if is ruined through cleaning, so you should be ok.

Advice I generally apply when dealing with dry clean only clothing is, if I really can't bear the thought of it being ruined and not being able to wear it again, then I will get it dry cleaned.

Sorry forgot to mention - I'd say a 5 minute soak would be ok.

I bought a washing machine with a wool cycle.

Wool actually needs 'blood' temperature water as cold water shocks it and causes fibres to shrink. You also need to use a specalist wool/silk detergent e.g. lanabambini.co.uk/store/extra-gentle-wool-silk-detergent.html

Warm water, gentle liquid - bare minimum required. Swirl garment around water - I wash in floor bucket - and then rinse twice. Do not wring or scrub. I put a folded slat chair over the bath and lay garment over to dry - usually it is only damp by morning and then I can hang outside. If the garment appears to pull on the hanger I put back on the chair. Easy and quick.

Oh and I use soap flakes.

I use Stergene to hand wash my silk clothes, you can also use it to clean wool items. It works a treat.