Washing a dry clean only coat

[atomicnotsoblonde]

I've bought a new coat that is too big. I'm a size 4 and find it a nightmare to get anything that fits. The cost of refitting it at the dressmakers is almost as much as the coat again.

It's dry clean only and I'm hoping to deliberately shrink it a bit by washing it at home. It's high street so I'm fairly willing to take a chance. It's a fairly standard coat material with a detachable fur collar that I'll remove.

Attached pic is the label. Any suggestions on which washing setting to use?

Thanks in advance.

I wouldn’t. It will not look good - it will look like a coat that someone put in the washing machine by mistake.

Polyester doesn't shrink unfortunately.

You probably could wash it without harming it - wash in one of those nylon bags (I have a couple of huge ones), air dry it & finish off with 5 mins in tumble dryer - which will fluff up the fur collar if you decide to lob that in too.

It shouldn't be harmed, but won't shrink...

Does your machine have a delicates cycle? That would be best if it does.

I wouldn’t wash it. Is it lined? Sometimes washing can mess up the lining rather than the actual coat.

Problem might arise if it's lined and one fabric shrinks more than the other.

Thank you. Damn being small, lookalike I'll need to pay the same again in dressmaking 😩

It's all polyester - outer, lining & fur backing.

I would (& have) washed loads of dry-clean only stuff & it's been fine, apart from one men's suit which had some viscose in the mix & that did come out wrong, but it was from a charity shop & didn't fit right in the first place!

None of it will shrink, but as OP wants it to I don't know what she can do

I would worry about creases as well. It could be very difficult to make the coat look good again after washing, especially if it has lots of padding as well as lining. It could lose its shape.