Dupioni silk

[Azure]

I've got a question for my fellow fabric aholics out there - maybe Mithrea or someone can answer this for me -

I am making a tunic for someone out of dupioni silk, and I feel the need to prewash the stuff - what do you think, washing machine gentle or hand wash the first time???

If I can get away with washing it in the machine, I'd prefer that, but it isn't a type of silk I've worked with a lot, and I don't want to mess up anything that costs $15 a yard.

[Lavender]

Just curious why you need to prewash the silk as most people dry clean it. If you absolutely must wash it first, hand wash. Use a very gentle soap and don't wring out. Hang to drip dry if possible. If you can get some yucca roots, boil 1 cup of water & soak about 2 tbsp of yucca roots for 20 mins. Strain & add that to your water to wash the silk. It's a very gentle cleanser for silks & fine fabrics.

[Mithrea]

I agree. I can't imagine putting that in the machine at any point :)

Just as a sidenote . . . if you are in doubt about washing any fabric, always handwash. It's probably worth it to buy a little extra to do a test wash too if you can. Or, after you've finished the item, if there are any scraps, you can use them for the same thing. :) I've lost more than one dress to a washer or an iron because I wasn't careful :rolleyes:

[Mithrea]

Hmmmm what are you using it for? Read this link before you decide.

http://www.srfabrics.com/care/silk.htm

[Azure]

heh! I almost always wash my fabrics. There are very few things I dry clean. I have silks that go beautifully through the wash. It depends only on the fragility of the weave.

My concern with dupioni is that it ravels heavily, not that it will be water damaged. I talked to my advisor from grad school, and she suggested using a high steam iron to preshrink it, then dry cleaning the garment if the seams didn't have serious reinforcement, as otherwise it would probably ravel badly, so that's the advice I'm taking.

You must dry clean fabrics with premade garments usually because they haven't been preshrunk. There are few natural fibers that don't wash. Harsh detergents and commercial dryers are usually the culprits when the fabric are damaged.

edited for spelling

[Mithrea]

I thought I posted the website that talked about unraveling. I must not have. Anyway, I've lost it now but it said not to wash it until it was finished to avoid that.

[Lavender]

Originally posted by Azure
... Harsh detergents and commercial dryers are usually the culprits when the fabric are damaged.

edited for spelling

Try the yucca roots. It really is very gentle.

[Azure]

I've never used yucca root. . . I will have to try.

Thanks for the Silk Raod link Mithrea - have you ordered from them at all? I'm curious.

[Mithrea]

:T Nope. You know me. WalMart $1 table all the way :thumbsup:

[Azure]

*giggles* I'm with you there.
The Dupion is really for my SO's Yule present though. . . I'm going to go try to hand wash a little piece now and see what happens.