Need Advice on Washing Silks - YouLookFab Forum

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Need Advice on Washing Silks

Anonymous

I recently purchased a couple of Eileen Fisher silk trousers for work. Both pair are washable. I always assumed silk was a strong fabric and would easily hold up to washing, but comments on this Forum have led me to believe otherwise. Is there any advice for washing these silks?

I will wash them on gentle with very little-to-no rubbing of the fabric. I'll probably use my normal detergent with oxyclean. I usually hang my clothing to air dry. Is that still ok?

Thank you in advance.

General

18 replies

Latest reply was from Meredith

approprio

(website)

Veteran

Good quality silk can be very strong except when it's wet, which weakens the fibres. It holds up well to general wear and tear, but you need to take care when washing.

I sometimes wash heavier items with wool detergent on the gentle cycle with a very light spin, but I have a few more delicate pieces which I "wash" with eucalan. This is great, because it's not really washing, more of a gentle soak with no rinsing, followed by a drip dry. It's very low impact and gets things pretty clean without too much moving around. If there are any marks or stains, I'll do a spot clean first.

Anonymous

I was hoping you would weigh in Approprio. I have eucalan in the house. I'll use that. I might have to spin dry though. It would take forever to drip dry on its own.

lozz_oz

Veteran

I pretty much follow the same methods used by Approprio. Either gentle or wool cycle + use a eucalyptus wool wash (gathering it's similar to eucalan). Reduce the spin on the machine and also consider placing the more delicate items in a lingerie/wash bag.

Coffeegirl28

Echoing the comments above, but wanted to chime in that I roll my items in a towel to soak up some of the excess moisture before I hang to drip dry. It cuts the drying time!

Anonymous

I have some of these EF silk pants and wash/soak gently by hand and roll in a towel like Coffeegirl, then hang to dry using a men's wooden clip hanger for trousers. Gently pulling the garment into shape when hanging helps eliminate wrinkles. I would definitely put the pants in a lingerie bag if using the machine to reduce friction which is not good for fragile wet silk.

Diana

Veteran

I use eucalan and a towel to remove excess moisture as well. If the item is heavier (like a knit) you can roll it up in the towel and step on it to press excess moisture out.

Anonymous

Thank you Approprio; Lozz_oz; Coffeegirl28; Joy, and of course Diana. I hadn't considered the towel trick. I'll use that instead of spinning them dry.

I really hope this is good quality silk. I had heard that Eileen Fisher silks wore "like iron." I don't have enough experience to know first hand. Although I do own one tee shirt that has held up amazingly well!!! I accidentally washed and dried the silk tee shirt thinking it was one of my old cotton ones and no damage whatsoever (that I can see). I certainly don't want to repeat that experience though.

I wore my navy silk trousers to a public hearing today. I had an old metal clipboard resting on my lap while I recorded milage and other stuff. Evidently, the metal clipboard created a line of snags across my left thigh. I was very sad. I am probably the only one that would notice this line though. Still .....

The Cat

Veteran

Be careful. Use a detergent for silk/wool, and preferably a hand wash cycle.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

Oh, I have never heard of Eucalan before -- will have to try it.

Marilyn

Veteran

Chiming in in support of Eucalan and also Soak Wash. Neither requires rinsing so you can skip the rinse cycle and just reset your machine to drain and spin. Light items don't generally need much time to spin to get the water out.
And yes, the towel rolling technique is great. For me it depends how delicate the item is.

http://soakwash.com/

Anonymous

Sterling, you might contact EF about the snags made by the clipboard. I think I read that they do repairs on things like that. Silk is strong when it is dry, just not wet. I have some EF wide silk trousers that I bought used and they are still going strong. I have a silk/linen blend that I wash in the machine on delicates and hang to dry, also bought used.

Anonymous

What a great idea, Joy!!! The pants were bone dry and I was only resting the clipboard on my lap while I waited for a receipt. I was genuinely surprised when I saw the line of snags. I'll reach out to Eileen Fisher this weekend.

karen13

Veteran

If you don't get any love from EF, Try to stretch the fabric gently in the direction of the snag and if that pulls the thread back in a bit, pull more firmly. Sometimes this will get rid of the line, but still leave a little thread loop. Then use a "knit picker" to pull that loop to the wrong side.

Such a bummer!

Anonymous

Your way is probably easier Karen13. Thank you for posting.

tulle

Veteran

Temperature is very important, too. The lukewarm water that is fine for wool can shrink silk, so be sure to keep the water cold. I find it easiest to wash silks by hand, then roll them gently in an absorbent towel and hand them up or lay them flat to dry, ironing carefully while they are still slightly damp.

Scarlet

Veteran

I have a silk dress and a silk shirt that I wash by putting them in a large mesh bag and using the delicate cycle on my washing machine with a detergent specifically for delicates. I have done this many, many times and the items in question hold up well. I use lukewarm water.

Anonymous

Well, I washed my silk slacks using the advice offered here. They look great. Thank you all for taking the time to walk me through the process.

Today I assess that snag and see if I can fix it using Karen13's suggestion.

Meredith

Veteran

I wanted to suggest another option for removing excess water-salad spinner. Just make sure there aren't any rough pieces of plastic that could cause snags.