Do you really need to dry clean silk?

[whoneedssleepanyway]

I have bought a couple of 100% silk blouses for work in the LK Bennett sale, but they say dry clean only. I have hand washed silk in the past and it has been fine. Do they say this just to cover themselves if anything happens? Is it worth the risk. They were vastly reduced but still not cheap so don't want to wreck them but I can see I will end up spending more on dry cleaning than on the cost of the blouses themselves. If I were to hand wash them how is it best to do it, cold water?

I hand wash mine in cool water, using Woolite, rinse in cold water and drip dry. I do the same with LKB dresses and they turn out fine too. Good luck!

I do the same, lukewarm water & a liquid wash for woollens & silk.
I do also put them on a very short spin to get the worst of the wet out before hanging up to dry, then iron on the silk setting. Done this for years, never had a spoiled garment. Never had one dry cleaned.
I wash DH silk ties too.

I machine wash all silk items( Dresses, Blouses, camisoles etc) on the silk programme. Always have, they all come out perfectly. I dry them on an airer indoors.

I'd normally say yes but actually an equipment shirt is not quite the same after handwashing with woollite and neither is a very heavy silk crepe camisole - there's been some slight shrinkage.

Have washed a silk shirt before in cold water and it shrank and I wept!

On a slightly related note. I have a silk ballgown, got a stain on it a few years ago which I tried to wipe off. Is it too late to take it to be dry cleaned ?

Oh no Snowlie and Mrs CB, see this is what I really don't want to happen....maybe I should just be glad I got them so reduced and spend what I saved on the dry cleaning.....

To be fair I had got ink or something on my shirt, the dry cleaners couldn't remove it and suggested I wash it as a last resort....I still wept when it shrank though.