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Posted by karlisa on April 20, 2006, 12:05 pm
I finally received my iron in the mail yesterday. My husband is at
home today and said that he would put a large hook in the ceiling so I
can hang my water tank for the iron. I'm so excited!
Anyway, I googled old posts about preshrinking silk, but I have not
seen anything that mentioned silk satin. Does this fabric require
special handling? Also, most of the posts I've run across mentioned
washing the silk fabric. Wouldn't this damage the satin? I had
planned on preshrinking the fabric using a steam iron held about 1/2"
above the fabric. This is how we would preshrink some fabrics in the
costume shop when I was in college. It's tedious but seems to work.
Should I just take this to the dry cleaner instead? It's 4 yards of
54" wide silk satin.
lisa
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Posted by Kate Dicey on April 20, 2006, 12:11 pm
karlisa wrote:
> I finally received my iron in the mail yesterday. My husband is at
> home today and said that he would put a large hook in the ceiling so I
> can hang my water tank for the iron. I'm so excited!
>
> Anyway, I googled old posts about preshrinking silk, but I have not
> seen anything that mentioned silk satin. Does this fabric require
> special handling? Also, most of the posts I've run across mentioned
> washing the silk fabric. Wouldn't this damage the satin? I had
> planned on preshrinking the fabric using a steam iron held about 1/2"
> above the fabric. This is how we would preshrink some fabrics in the
> costume shop when I was in college. It's tedious but seems to work.
> Should I just take this to the dry cleaner instead? It's 4 yards of
> 54" wide silk satin.
>
> lisa
>
Test first! Try a small piece and steam press form the back only.
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!
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Posted by Jenn Ridley on April 20, 2006, 12:20 pm
>Anyway, I googled old posts about preshrinking silk, but I have not
>seen anything that mentioned silk satin. Does this fabric require
>special handling? Also, most of the posts I've run across mentioned
>washing the silk fabric. Wouldn't this damage the satin?
Probably not, unless it damages the fibers. Good silk satin is
amazingly durable stuff. I wash mine all the time (bought as fabric,
prewashed, used washable/prewashed notions), and I've got a couple of
silk satin shirts that are 4-5 years old. (cheap silk satin, otoh,
can be pretty junky.)
Washing silk usually makes it a little more fluid than it is unwashed
(the silk gum is water soluble). Depending on the dyes used, washing
silk may cause the colors to fade or shift a little. And the color
may shift back as the fabric dries/cools.
>Should I just take this to the dry cleaner instead? It's 4 yards of
>54" wide silk satin.
Treat the fabric as you want to treat the finished item. If you want
to be able to wash it, you'll want to wash the fabric. If you don't
mind drycleaning the item, dry clean the fabric.
Dry cleaning is not inherently easier on fabric than putting it in the
washer. It still gets tossed around in a drum and has liquids forced
through it.
--
Jenn Ridley : jridley@chartermi.net
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Posted by on April 20, 2006, 3:08 pm
Dear Friends,
You can't imagine what terrible harm you're doing to your silk when you
prewash it. The seracin (silk gum) gives silk its scroop (sound);
washing it out doesn't make it fluid--it destroys some of the
properties. In this modern time, washing any fabric before using it is
unnecessary, unless you object to the smell. Only very cheap fabrics
that have been woven from raw cotton and printed will shrink. Fabrics
go through so many processes before they are put on the bolt that it's
been through the equivalent of several washes.
In most cases, silk satin is not going to be made into a garment that
will be washed after being worn--it will go to the dry cleaners.
If you're using home-dec fabrics, there is a possibility that some of
the fibers will shrink, but not garment fabric.
Teri
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Posted by Jenn Ridley on April 20, 2006, 4:52 pm
gjones2938@yahoo.com wrote:
>You can't imagine what terrible harm you're doing to your silk when you
>prewash it. The seracin (silk gum) gives silk its scroop (sound);
>washing it out doesn't make it fluid--it destroys some of the
>properties.
Last time I looked at it, silk satin didn't scroop. I wouldn't want it
if it did. We're not talking about crisp dupionni. The silk in
question is satin, which is supposed to be fluid and smooth, and had
better not 'scroop'.
>In this modern time, washing any fabric before using it is
>unnecessary, unless you object to the smell. Only very cheap fabrics
>that have been woven from raw cotton and printed will shrink. Fabrics
>go through so many processes before they are put on the bolt that it's
>been through the equivalent of several washes.
And then it's often stretched onto the bolt, and gets stashed in a
warehouse and at least one truck before it even gets to the store and
then it gets handled on the sales floor.
It's always a good idea to wash a fabric before you use it. The color
may shift or run (yes, even on good fabrics). Washing (or cleaning) a
fabric can change the hand of it (yes, even the good stuff). These
are things you want to know *before* you cut and sew them.
Look, if Silk Road Fabrics<http://www.srfabrics.com/care/silk.htm>,
Oriental Silks <http://www.orientalsilk.com/FAQ.html#24>, and
Anjoorian Silks
<http://www.anjooriansilks.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=51> (to name
a few) tell me that I can handwash silk without damaging it, I'm going
to. I hate the smell of drycleaning. I hate the inconvenience. I
hate the expense.
(Frankly, everything I've heard goes the other way, to the effect that
handwashing soft silk is less likely to damage it than dry cleaning.
And leaving a silk blouse sitting around sweaty and dirty while you
get a load of cleaning together is even worse than putting the blouse
in water.)
--
Jenn Ridley : jridley@chartermi.net
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