Dry clean curtains or risk a wool wash with Woolite

[BiscuitTheft]

Been given an estimate of £160 to dry clean two sets of eyelet door curtains. I don’t think I paid much more than that when I bought them two years ago!

They are 100% polyester but they look like wool iykwim. They are lined with polyester too.

It’s mostly the lining that is dirty due to dogs & children running in from the garden.
Do I risk a very short wash in a 10kg capacity machine or does anyone have any other suggestions?
I think they would be too unwieldy to handwash in the bath (2.5m drop)
They aren’t particularly heavy but would be when soaking wet.
Much appreciate any advice.

I'd wash one by one in the machine BUT not until a warm sunny day to hang them outside to dry.

Is there any extra fabric in the hem in case they shrink?

If polyester I would just wash them in the machine as you suggest.

Thank you that’s a good point. Yes there is a hem. I’m most worried about shrinkage, I ruined a set of much loved Laura Ashley pencil pleat curtains that ended up made into cushions.

I would wash in a laundrette large machine and then hang on my line at home in the sun

If they are polyester I would do a delicate wash in the machine as they shouldn’t
shrink. Cotton curtains are likely to shrink quite a bit and often have a mixed poly/cotton lining which usually shrinks less than the curtain fabric

I had curtains dry cleaned and they shrank by over 2 inches (cotton blend). I would definitely risk a delicates wash in your machine and hang up to dry. I trust most things to my machine these days.

I always wash curtains. Just a cold wash in non bio then hang over washing line.

Yes that’s what happened to my lovely Laura Ashley ones! The lining was hanging down about 20cm below the hems 😩

ok if you didn't pay much more than £160 for them anyway, I'd wash them as above suggested (wait for warm weather), and either it'll work or you can buy new ones for the same cost as getting them laundered

@BiscuitTheft I learnt from the hard way with Laura Ashley curtains too and ended up making cushion covers. I sometimes make my own curtains and pre wash fabric first now to shrink before making them.

Just need to hope for a sunny day this week. The machine has a 15 minute cycle so I’ll let you know the outcome. I suppose I was expecting maybe £70 for the dry cleaning but £160 was just the estimate! If I ruin one curtain I can chalk it up to experience & replace the pair.

I have a pair of full length eyelet lined curtains across my patio doors, they’re about 2m wide per curtain so pretty substantial. We have cats and a cat flap in one of the patio doors. The cats love sitting at the cat flap growling at the birds in the garden. As a result, our curtain linings are always full of cat fur. I also had a stupid quote to have them dry cleaned but decided that as the cost of having them made (Dunelm) was not much more than having them dry cleaned I would risk washing them.
No shrinkage at all, nice and fresh, no ironing needed as I pegged them out but left with a hairy washing machine that needed cleaning out 😂
I regularly wash them now if it’s a sunny day.

heheh the hairy washing machine sounds familiar. I’m going to give them a bit of a rollover with the sticky lint removal thingy. There is a layer of ginger fur where the biggest offender dries himself on the curtains as he comes through the doors. I’ll update when I’ve washed & dried the first one.

I have a wash bag from Amazon that I use for furry things, btw. Google wash bag for horse blanket. Huge enough to put curtains in. Works perfectly at keeping the washing machine clean.

What does the care label in them say?

If they're synthetic then wash them on delicate program or hand wash program.
I'm washing mine normally in our washing machine and always hang them wet- they'll straighten up by its own weight.
Or wait till warmer weather and let them dry outside.

An update on the curtain situation.
I washed each curtain separately inside a clean duvet cover using Persil non-bio at 30° on a 20 minute quick cycle. Dried outside (each one took 4 hours, even in the sunshine)
No shrinkage from the main textile but the polyester mix lining is still marked from mud. I can live with that, hopefully I can try a spot clean with a baby wipe when they are hung.
They smell much better than I would imagine a dry clean too.
So thank you for the laundry-related moral support.
I can confirm that Paoletti wool effect curtains are NOT dry clean only, despite the label 🤣

You can get sheets, like Bounce, that are for putting clothes that needed dry cleaning in the dryer with. Comes out clean.

Great result!

I washed our dry clean only dining room curtains in the machine last weekend. 20 degree easy care wash. No shrinkage and look miles better.

I had some curtains dry cleaned because they stank of cigarette smoke. They came back still smelling of smoke and when I questioned the staff I was told dry cleaning wouldn’t get the smell out but they couldn’t really explain why, or convince me that the curtains were actually now clean.
I ended up putting them in a cold wash and they were fine.

They were quite dirty, especially on the lining so they needed a “proper” wash, I think. There are still a few mud stains but I’m going to spot clean those with a baby wipe.
Also I haven’t had a tumble dryer since having one catch fire (years ago) so I’m a bit scared of them!