I've already found pretty good information on handwashing silk, which is basically summarized as "treat it like hair": lukewarm water, baby shampoo or similar, reduce friction (ie, swish/don't rub, roll in a towel/don't wring dry), lay flat to dry.

This thread isn't about general techniques for washing silk, however.

My question is specifically about preserving the brushed/sueded/sandwashed texture when you handwash your silk at home. Whenever I use water, the silk stiffens up, loses that soft downy hand, and stops draping as beautifully. I know I'm not causing permanent damage because I can always send the blouse to the cleaners and it will come back as good as new, so it's just a matter of technique/materials.

Here's what I've tried:
-- tossing the wet blouse in the dryer for ~10 mins on low heat. I sweated buckets, thinking I was going to permanently damage the blouse. The result was more drapy than purely air-drying, but not as good as the cleaners.
-- brushing both sides of the air-dried cloth with a stiff brush (I stole my husband's a boars hair clothes brush, but I bet it's not the only option). Definitely better than the dryer: the hand is the same, but the drape isn't quite there.

Any handwashers out there willing to chime in with their tips?