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Step 1
Washing:
"Wash by Hand" means exactly what it states. This means that the garment can't be agitated and should be washed in a basin by soaking and squeezing only.
"Machine Wash" means that the garment can be agitated in the washing machine. It will usually give a water temperature, either cold or warm. If it doesn't, you can wash it in water up to 130 degrees farenheit.
"Wash with like colors" or "wash separately" means that the colors might run. -
Step 2
Drying:
"Tumble Dry" means it can go in the dryer, but look at the temperature, it normally says low or medium heat settings. If it doesn't specify, it can be dried at any temperature.
"Dry Flat" means you should lay the item on a horizontal surface to dry. Usually sweaters have this in their label. If you hang them to dry, they will stretch out.
"Drip-dry" means to hang it dripping wet. This means taking it right from the water and hanging it with no wringing or squeezing.
"No Heat" means you can put the item in the dryer on the fluff setting to freshen, but not to dry them with heat. -
Step 3
Bleaching:
If the label does not mention bleach, you can use any kind of bleach.
"Only non-chlorine bleach when needed" means that you can only use colorsafe bleach, without chlorine.
"Do not bleach" means exactly what it says. -
Step 4
Dry Cleaning:
"Dry Clean" means that the item can be dry cleaned, but also means that you can probably wash the item carefully by hand, but if the tag says "dry-clean only", it can only be dry cleaned, no question. -
Step 5
Ironing:
If the label does not mention ironing, it is safe to iron and should be ironed only when it is wrinkled.
"Iron" means that it will need to be ironed often and it should specify a temperature setting. If it does not, you can use a hot iron.
"Do not iron" means that you should not ever iron the item, because an iron would damage it.
Comments
Felicity said
on 10/20/2008 This is neat - so neat I am going to print it out and stick it on the laundry wall. Thanks for sharing it!