How to Care for a Silk Blouse

A blousy silk top is a great addition to any wardrobe. It is a terrific professional look and also works well for an evening out. Often the best solution for keeping the color and look of your blouse is to have it dry cleaned, but many silks these days can be handwashed. Follow these steps to help your silk last a lifetime.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tissue paper
• Neutral soap

1. Fill your sink or bathtub with warm water and a neutral soap. Place the blouse in the soapy water.

2. Soak the blouse for about 20 minutes or longer if stained. After soaking, rinse the garment with warm water. Lay the garmet between two towels, then roll and squeeze to remove excess water. Do not wring out.

3. Air dry flat. Do not dry in dryer or hang to dry. Drying in the dryer can cause damage to the blouse and hanging the garment can cause pulling in the fabric.

4. Fold the garment and keep it in a drawer instead of on a hanger. Just fold by holding the collar and meeting the sleeves together, then fold in half. Place tissue paper inside your drawer before you place the folded blouse to insure the garmet does not get snagged.

Tips & Warnings

• Folding silk garments is best since hanging silk can leave hanger marks on the garment if it hangs too long and the fabric can be snagged by other hangers.
• Silk can be ruined by sweat stains. Wearing perspiration pads can add years to a silk blouse. These pads are small inserts that you put in your clothing to help eliminate sweat stains. Just place the pad inside the garment where sweat would gather.
• You can press-dry wet silk with an iron on a low setting.

[bbq12]

on 3/17/2009 Thanks for sharing the information.

[shannonny]

on 11/16/2008 Thanks for the thorough instructions on caring for a silk blouse. I just purchased three and knew it was possible to clean them myself, but didn't know how.