Making your clothes last longer
You love your wardrobe. The most perfect pieces found you after weeks of searching, and now you want to protect them with all of your might. After all, your jackets and ponte dresses look so good on you, so why wouldn’t you want to return the favor?
Here are some clothing care tips to follow beyond the label:
Keeping moths away
Those winter clothes you have in storage are a feeding frenzy for moths and other pests. Most vulnerable to attack are your wool sweaters, but with a little prep, it’s easy to keep them intact. The first rule of thumb: When washing your clothes before storage, ditch the dryer sheets. The smell of fabric softener can attract unwanted pests, said The Consumerist. The scent of lavender or cedar has the opposite effect, so throw a few sachets or cedar chips in with your idle garments.
Preserving your jeans
Dark rinses are in fashion but foolproof dyes are hard to come by. To keep your jeans’ hues completely colorfast, avoiding the dryer is the best strategy, according to Jolie Kerr at Deadspin. If you don’t have time or space for air-drying jeans, choosing your dryer’s lowest heat setting will preserve the vivid color for a longer stretch.
You can also try setting the dye by soaking your jeans in a washing machine full of cold water and one cup of white vinegar. If your washer doesn’t have a “soak” option, you can pause the cycle as soon as the water has completely filled. In lieu of vinegar, commercial products aimed at setting dye are widely available.
Washing wool
Dry cleaning offers solid assurance that your coveted winter sweaters or jackets won’t suffer shrinking or felting. Running the weekly errand can also be time-consuming and costly. Though a lot of care labels might designate wool items as machine-washable, this is still a risky route to take if you don’t want your sweaters pilling.
Hand washing is your best bet and it only takes a small amount of effort for a short soak, swish and squeeze. It might seem like a small chore but you won’t regret keeping your sweaters soft.
Start by turning your sweater inside out, submerge in a sinkful of lukewarm water with a couple squirts of gentle detergent, as suggested by Real Simple. Swirl the water a bit, taking care not to agitate, and let soak for 10 more minutes before rinsing. Don’t wring your sweater; instead, roll gently in a towel to squeeze out water before laying flat to dry.
Love your clothes, and they’ll love you back.
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Comments (2)
Emma
What can i do to take stains out of a silk off white dress with out ruining it:Dry Cleaning is required,Love the dress but don’t always have the money for dry clean and the cleaner does not do a good job around the collar.Please Help if can.
Aline Cartier
Every year I have problem with the stored winter clothes. One year it’s the mold, other are the moths or the wrong type of storage container/bag. I didn’t know I have to pass the softener when I prepare the clothes for storing, thank you it’s a valuable information. I’ve heard about the lavender and cedar’s effect, but I’ve never used them, may be it’s high time. Thank you for sharing!