Have you washed your Bailey 44 or DVF wrap?

ElleH

I have worn my B44 twice & dry-cleaned it each time at $13 a pop! It wasn't dirty but smelly under the arms, which did not come out. I shower daily & use deodorant etc. I wore the DVF for about an hour to see if it would gape or blow open etc & it smells too. Anyway, the drycleaning doesn't work on odor. I use dress shields on jackets but sleeveless items don't allow for that. I could try them on the DVF if there is room. I guess I need to stop buying dry clean only. It seems the dressier I try to become lately, the more dry clean only my garments are. I like my new clothing. What to do? I wouldn't want to wash blazers but if I could wash a B44 or DVF silk wrap dress that would be great. I have an ozone machine but that damages textiles, especially rubber & elastic. The elastic on my fitted sheets & a dress I had a ruined. I don't use my ozone machine anymore.

10 years ago

General

11 replies

Latest reply was from Deb

DeclawedJaguar

Veteran

I hand-washed my B44 dress with a very gentle detergent and made sure to not rub or wring it. Instead, I just let it sit in a basin of soapy water, then gently swished it around in a basin of clean water, rolled it up in a towel to dry it out, and then laid it out flat to dry. It came out just fine.

I think the reason the label says to dry clean is that the manufacturer does not want to bear responsibility for people ruining garments by overly vigorous washing with agitation. If you handle the B44 dress too much when wet, the raw edges unravel and roll. But if you wash it gently, it works very well.

10 years ago

ElleH

Veteran

Thanks Jaggy. I just saw you post about your nickname & your cat's name. Viscose or rayon, which is the same thing, can shrink so I wanted to see if anyone else had done it. Is yours Viscose or Rayon?

10 years ago

DeclawedJaguar

Veteran

Elle, I just checked the label, and it's 96% rayon and 4% spandex. I've also hand-washed other B44 tops with similar raw edges and fabric composition, and none of them have shrunk, but YMMV. Maybe try only wetting the bottom tier to see how the fabric will react?

10 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

I have washed both of them in the washing machine on "hand wash" cycle with Johnson's baby shampoo. Roll in a towel and dry flat. They turned out great.

10 years ago

shedev

Veteran

I've washed Bailey 44 tops on gentle cycle and hung to dry. I have 3 different tops and all were fine. They were the same fabrication as my VC top which said to wash on gentle.

10 years ago

bj1111

Veteran

I handwash my dvf dress.

10 years ago

Charmian

Veteran

I handwash my DVF silk dress and my Equipment blouse too.

I would say that the advice you can find online (and on this thread) for washing silk pretty much works as advertised. I had to tweak it a little for brushed/sueded/sandwashed silk, though -- I should probably start a thread on that, thanks for the reminder.

10 years ago

Nebraskim

Veteran

My Japanese grandmother said to me at least 30 years ago, "Japanese women wore silk thousands of years before dry clean invented." I hand wash most of my silk and rayon garments, roll in towels and hang to dry. Sometimes the admonition on dry cleaning is due to unstable dyes and non colorfast clothing. Once I forgot an expensive silk scarf was in a pocket and washed it with jeans. Even after the dryer, it was OK but wrinkley, and I was able to steam the wrinkles out. I washed a rayon dress that I got on consignment for $15 and dry cleaning did not remove the body odor. Figured I had not much in the dress but it was unwearable otherwise, so I tossed it in the Maytag. Gentle wash in Tide did the trick.

10 years ago

Caro in Oz

Veteran

I wash all my silk & viscose without any problems

10 years ago

Joy

Veteran

I also hand wash silk and rayon items unless tree are lots of fussy details like ruffles . Have you tried Dryell cleaning it in your dryer?

10 years ago

Deb

Veteran

I have lots of silk items and gently hand wash them with 'delicates' washing liquid in cool water, making sure not to leave them in the water more than a minute or two, rinse well, roll in towel and hang to dry away from direct light. When they are still slightly damp, I iron them, strictly on the silk setting on the iron since silk doesn't like heat, and they come out perfectly. When it comes to silk, the dry clean label is principally to cover the manufacturer, for those who do not or cannot launder these items with great care.

9 years ago

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