care and feeding of silk?

[thanate]

Question for those of you who work with dupioni-- do you treat it as dry clean only, or has it held up to washing? I am wondering if I should fight my habit of serging and machine washing/drying everything that comes into the house (ok, there are some other exceptions) for fear of ruining the lovely stuff, rather than washing it now for fear of it shrinking later on due to potential hand washing.

Opinions?

Comments

[belfebe.livejournal.com]

I always dry clean dupioni.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Do you dryclean before working with it? I'm reading things about possible shrinkage from steaming during the cleaning process and feeling vaguely paranoid.

[belfebe.livejournal.com]

Nope. I just work on it as is. I've never had anything shrunk.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Ok, thanks!

[greta-k.livejournal.com]

My instinct would be to wash it on delicate. Silk can be quite strong. The best person to ask is Bel, who has worked with dupioni quite a lot.

[greta-k.livejournal.com]

Well, there's your answer :-)

[(Anonymous)]

I had some interesteing effects from accedentally washing dupioni. I don't recomend washing it becuase it really changes teh fabric allot. (or at least it did for me) I liked the final look, it really brought out the weave.

[greta-k.livejournal.com]

I've washed dupioni, too, and not had too many problems. Then again, I've only used it for smallish projects. I've had good luck with washing raw silk. Very sturdy, but I'd still do it on delicate/gentle.

[stanci.livejournal.com]

Not that this hasn't already been answered to death - but when I've washed dupioni, the fabric's changed from the shiny surface to a more matte, dull surface.
I don't know that silk is in danger of shrinking - wool yes (and I have lined wool dress pants to prove it. grrr), but I don't think silk will.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

From what I've gathered, some silks shrink and others don't mainly based on the weave, and dupioni and raw silk are the ones that are most prone to it.

Of course, the internet also tells me that I should only use either steam or a dry iron to get wrinkles out, so I thought asking real people sounded like a better bet. So, thanks! :)