Do I really need to dry clean this?

[senua]

I have an M&S/Autograph dress (so not that precious) that tells me I should professionally (no less!) dry clean it. It is fitted, with contrast panels of matte and sateen, and is lined. It is 71% acetate and 29% polyester with a 100% polyester lining.
Waddya think?

bump?

A hand wash with woolite can't possibly do much harm, and something that is synthetic should probably dry pretty fast too. Go for it!

The sateen will end up wrinkly and you won't be able to iron them back into shape.

I always avoid dry cleaning anything, a gentle hand wash is usually fine. But....the only disaster I've had was with an acetate dress where it never recovered from hand washing, the texture of the fabric changed and the shape distorted, total write-off :(

Thanks for your postings, ladies: I'm pleased to report that the dress withstood the hand-washing.

The colour ran a little but I expected it to because it is a deep plum. It didn't shrink (or my Lent diet is working, one or the other!) and the creases ironed out.

AW: I had a similar experience with a modal skirt. I bought it from a charity shop and was loathe to spend more on dry-cleaning than I had spent on buying it in the first place. The shape didn't distort but I washed off the special finish, so that forever afterwards it went all limp rag and creased like bad linen. Not a good look in the tummy area!

Interesting, I have a lambswool cardigan that says dry clean only but I've been debating handwashing it...

Eh? Wool never needed to be dry-cleaned back in the good old days. Does it have applique or special buttons or summat?

No! I might just wash it and see what happens...

Well you're a braver man than I am, Gunga Din.

I have always put dry clean only wool into the cold wash and rinse cycle of my washing machine, then pulled into shape and air dried flat.