Tag Archives: Cashmere

How To Wash A Cashmere Sweater

Cashmere

Nothing says true luxury like cashmere. A cashmere sweater is often a special treat for that special someone in your life or for the someone who simply has everything. It will draw admirers with its beauty. However, if you own a cashmere sweater or are thinking about getting one, it is important for you to know exactly how to wash a cashmere sweater or you will get no practically no enjoyment from your luxury item.

The only safe way to wash a cashmere sweater is to hand wash it in cold water. This is a fairly simple technique. You will need to select a pan or sink big enough to hold the sweater, water and allow for some movement for agitation. Fill it with cold water and add the exact amount of detergent stated on the container. Be sure you are using a detergent that is formulated for delicate hand washing in cold water. Do not add too much detergent because it suds up very easily in cold water and it will take you quite a long time to get rid of all the suds if you use too much.

When the detergent is mixed into the water, add your cashmere sweater. If there were any stains or odors on it, you should have pretreated with a pretreatment product made for delicates. Move the sweater around gently to completely cover it in the water and to create agitation, so that the sudsy water will pass through the fabric and start to work on cleaning it. Rub stains, necklines and armpits with your hands to help along the cleaning process in these areas. Let the sweater soak for a while in the sudsy solution.

After a half hour or so has passed, come back to the sweater and agitate it throughout the water again. Then you will rinse it. Remove the soapy water and add clean water, agitating the sweater in it again. Keep repeating this process until no more bubbles are produced when the sweater is agitated in clean water.

Remove the sweater from the water and gently compress it to get as much water out as you can without damaging the garment. Do not wring or twist a cashmere sweater. When you have gotten some of the water out, lay the sweater on a dry absorbent towel. Gently roll the towel up with the sweater inside, in a jellyroll fashion. Compress the roll to get out additional moisture. Following this, lay the cashmere sweater flat to dry on a sweater dryer to allow air circulation. It may take a couple of days to completely dry but you will have saved yourself a pricey dry cleaning bill.

Don’t turn away from cashmere simply because it’s a little more work and extra care than most clothes. The feel of the luxurious softness is well worth the occasional investment of your time in hand washing what will quickly become one of your favorite things to wear.

Cashmere

How to Care for Cashmere

Cashmere

Is there anything softer or cozier to wear than cashmere? A sweater that is made of this ultra soft material is great to have, but there are many people who will avoid buying anything made of cashmere because they think it will be too hard to care for. While caring for cashmere does certainly take more time and patience versus other materials, it doesn’t have to be a major chore and it is anything but impossible.

Though almost any article of clothing that is made of cashmere is likely to say dry-clean only, you can effectively wash your own cashmere clothing and it really isn’t as hard as you might think. Here are steps to properly wash and care for cashmere:

1.    Prepare the water: Anything that you have that is cashmere should be washed by hand and the perfect place to do this is the sink or bath tub. Begin by filling the sink or tube with warm, not hot, water and then add some gentle detergent. Swish the detergent around gently with your hand and try to avoid the soap sudding up too much.
2.    Wash the cashmere: Now, one article at a time, place the cashmere clothing into the warm water mix and gentle swirl the clothing around. Do not agitate or wring the clothing while in the water as this may cause lots of unwanted harm to come to the clothing. You can now let the clothing sit for a couple of hours.
3.    Prepare the rinse: Once the clothing has been sitting in the water mixture for a little while you can lay out some fluffy towels and empty the sink or tub. Again, do not wring the clothes out. Once the tub or sink is empty fill it back up with warm water only and place the clothing back in the water. Do not swish this time but just let the clothing sit. After a while you will see remnants of soap and you will then know it is time to put the clothing back on the towel and empty the water once again. Most articles of clothing will require at least two rinse sessions but you will know they are ready to be completely dry when the water contains no more soap residue.
4.    Dry: Now that the washing is done, all that is left is to dry the cashmere garment. Lay out regular clean towels and place the clothing on top. Then roll the towel and gently press downward on the towel to help absorb the water. Repeat this a couple of times with different towels and end by laying the clothing on another fluffy towel. From here, the air will finish the job. Never hang the clothing to dry because the weight of the wet cashmere will almost certainly cause stretching to occur.

If this all seems too much for you then you can always take the garments to a dry cleaner and have them clean them for you. Whatever you decide to do, don’t try to get tricky and use your washing machine and dryer to get the job done. All that will leave you with is a clean article of clothing that you can no longer wear.