Washing lk Bennett silk dress

[mkmjimmy]

Not sure if this is right place to post but here goes. Bought 2 lk Bennett silk dresses in charity shop today for £20. Very good condition and lovely. But they are professional dry clean only. Both have acetate linings. Could I gently hand wash or will the linings do something awful?

Oh god! If you like the dresses PLEASE don't wash them. They will shrink and go out of shape. Take it from one who knows (full price and fecking RUINED). Dry clean only & at myself!

i have only ever dry cleaned my silk dresses, sorry. i don't dare do anything else.

i don't clean them everytime i wear them

If you only paid £10 each it's a bit daft to pay another £15 each to get them cleaned . If the linings are loose then you can hand wash the dresses in a bowl with the lining out of it inside out . Be careful with colours and used a delicate detergent . I'm a dry cleanser and we have washed many many dry clean only items over the years ( with customers consent obviously ) have never ruined one . If you are careful you can wash pretty much anything .

Thank you! I'll try and carefully hand wash the one I like the least of the two as a test! Don't really want to shell out for dry cleaning. Thank you bish for the advice.

Worst case scenario is you can cut the linings out and wear a slip with them instead. Most silk is washable but acetates a bugger

I have handwashed silk things that say "dry clean only" and they've come out nicer than when they've been dry cleaned.

You want some special gentle detergent, something like this and lukewarm water. Not even "warm".

Yes the detergent is very important as powder often has bleach in it and it's harsh and also may leave a residue . Give it a good rinse with softener and squeeze all te water out with a towel ( do not wring) . We dry them in front of a fan for optimum results as you want to get te eater out ASAP to avoid a tide mark . As it dries squeeze the water down the dress If that makes Sense?

Just to update. Put them through wading machine hand wash cycle w slow spin. Both absolutely fine.