Washing/drying a Poly kilt

[English Bloke]

I have a supposedly polyviscose, imported kilt. It's solid black. The advice I got before I washed mine was "just throw it in the machine, it'll be fine". So I washed it on a gentle cycle with a nice dollop of fabric conditioner in the rinse... and then tried to press it without basting (the only thing I can baste is a chicken). It is now shot to bits. It also seems to weigh less which I assume is the loss of the teflon coating due to the conditioner. It is lovely and soft mind. I wouldn't say it's unwearable but I wouldn't leave the house in it. Proceed with caution is my advice... and don't use conditioner.

[Pleater]

Rayon is very fragile when wet, so hanging weights on it, or even swooshing your fingers along each crease to straighten them is really not advisable. It can cause the fabric to break along the fold lines.

Just lay the kilt on a couple of layers of towels and let the moisture soak away before even thinking of hanging it up. In fact it might be safer to just change the towels and dry it flat, turning it over regularly. Only when it is almost dry hang it up with weights if you must. A light misting with warm water will soften any areas which are dryer than others and let the weights do their work.

Ironing man made fibres is problematic too - it is easy to polish the surface or to set a fold into the surface layer due to there being the edge of a pleat beneath it, so you need a padded board, to place each pleat upon so there is a flat surface behind it, and a dry cloth to put between the iron and the fabric.

You need to iron with just enough heat to smooth the fabric, as you can melt the ends of the fibres so the fabric becomes prickly, or melt it completely so it becomes goo stuck to the sole of the iron.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Andrewson]

don't use conditioner.

Fortunately I read (here on XMarks) to avoid conditioner when cleaning my PV kilts so I went to the trouble of carefully washing out the washing machine to make sure there were no traces of conditioner left in the dispenser before I started. I then just threw the kilt in for a gentle cold water wash (no heating) using a liquid wool detergent. After a normal spin I hang the kilt outside on a line for a few hours before sharpening up the pleats with a steam iron applied through a protective cloth. The pleats don't usually need much treatment; they emerge from the wash in very well defined condition.

Now that my wife no longer uses fabric conditioner for any wash, I don't even need to do the preliminary wash out.

My PV kilts have been through this process many times and are still looking as good as new.

Bob

[Aspiringloser]

Don't use fabric softener either. Looks like English Bloke already covered that. That's what I get for a hasty reply.

[knotty]

Any recommendations for acrylic?
Should I treat it like poly?

Craig

[Joshua]

Any recommendations for acrylic?
Should I treat it like poly?

Craig

Stay away from open flames, and get yourself a sweater shaver. Otherwise, I do note that mostly due to the wooly "texture" of acrylic they have to be really pressed well to actually look good. Unlike PV, which seems to straighten itself hanging up on my towel rack in my shower, acrylic seems to take a bit more work. Acrylic doesn't have the stain resistance that MM PV has, so don't worry about fabric softener..

I've actually been wearing my SWK acrylic BW around the house lately... It's got a very straight line rise and hip, so it has a vintage look to it.