Best way to wash/clean your kilt at home?

[Allan Kiesler]

Halò, ciamar a tha thu?
I need help from you guys. Due to prevalent situation, we can't go out. What you guys think is the best way to wash/clean my kilts at home?
I'm really upset, my kilts are getting dirty.

[Father Bill]

First question is what the material is and to a lesser degree, the construction.

[Tobus]

For the most part, unless you've seriously soiled your kilt, a simple brushing should suffice. It can be followed by spot cleaning with cool water and a wool-safe detergent on areas where you may have spilled a drink or something. Steaming can do a lot of good too, in terms of freeing up minor grime.

But if for some reason you've gotten your kilt so filthy that minor treatments won't work, you can wash the whole thing in the bathtub. Again, cool water and a wool-safe detergent. Squeeze and swish gently, but you shouldn't need (or want) to use any harsh agitation or scrubbing. Rinse thoroughly with a cup and/or sprayer. Let it drip for a bit. Roll carefully in a large fluffy towel and squeeze as much water out as you can, then hang carefully to dry, ensuring that pleats hang straight and hold their original creases. You can use clothes pins if you want to help keep the pleats from curling during this air drying process.

If you need to press it, you can try to do it one pleat at a time or go "whole hog" by basting the pleats and pressing the whole kilt. Do use a press cloth between the iron and the wool. Check the leather straps at the end of all this and see if they need any leather treatment.

[MichiganKyle]

Or, if it's P/V, follow the directions from the maker. Which is generally: throw it in the washing machine on cold. Supposedly you can dry them in a dryer, but I usually hang mine to dry.

I believe the same advice applies to acrylic - check the maker's directions, or check for a tag, but it's probably going to be throw it in the wash on cold.

Do not do this if it's wool, though. Bad things will happen. Possibly up to and including earthquakes, floods, and an attack by Godzilla.

[Allan Kiesler]

First question is what the material is and to a lesser degree, the construction.

It's acrylic wool. I'm worried, If something went wrong, I may end up losing pleats.

[Father Bill]

It's acrylic wool. I'm worried, If something went wrong, I may end up losing pleats.

Okay. First, I'm sorry to have to say it, but there is no such thing as "acrylic wool" any more than there is such a thing as plastic sheep from which to shear it. "Acrylic wool" is a contradiction in terms that's used, I'm told, mostly by the cheapie quickie mass production kilt factories in Pakistan.

That does not necessarily mean that you've been gypped. There are some kilts made there which are really not bad quality for the price paid.

So... I would guess that the material is acrylic woven to look like wool, and now I've reached the end of my limited expertise. I think we may hear back from Steve shortly, and he'll have some better hints about the origins and care of kilts made from material that is labelled this misleading way.

I don't think you're out of luck yet, just not in possession of what you may have thought you had.

Cheers!

Bill+

[Allan Kiesler]

Okay. First, I'm sorry to have to say it, but there is no such thing as "acrylic wool" any more than there is such a thing as plastic sheep from which to shear it. "Acrylic wool" is a contradiction in terms that's used, I'm told, mostly by the cheapie quickie mass production kilt factories in Pakistan.

That does not necessarily mean that you've been gypped. There are some kilts made there which are really not bad quality for the price paid.

So... I would guess that the material is acrylic woven to look like wool, and now I've reached the end of my limited expertise. I think we may hear back from Steve shortly, and he'll have some better hints about the origins and care of kilts made from material that is labelled this misleading way.

I don't think you're out of luck yet, just not in possession of what you may have thought you had.

Cheers!

Bill+

Yeah wool has it's own place. I've kilts that are densely woven, the quality and feel is great, very light, and not that expensive. So far satisfied.

[MichiganKyle]

It's acrylic wool. I'm worried, If something went wrong, I may end up losing pleats.

My Sport Kilts (which I believe are an acrylic blend) do tend to have the pleat edges lose some of their sharpness in the wash. But they also lose sharpness on me through just regular wear. Usually I compensate for this by washing them and then sharply creasing the pleat edges by hand when they're still damp and hanging up to dry, which seems to work fine. None of them have ever held a pleat (even when they were brand new) as well as my P/V kilts, so I can't say I get too worked up about how sharp the pleats are. My P/V kilts seem to keep their pleat sharpness through the wash pretty much by themselves - I just wash them and then straighten the pleats while hanging, but re-creasing them is not as important, and they mostly take care of themselves re: wrinkles and pleats once they dry.

However, if you're worried about it, you might try some of the advice from this thread, which is about ironing/pressing pleats on acrylic kilts:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ng-kilt-58263/

[Allan Kiesler]

My Sport Kilts (which I believe are an acrylic blend) do tend to have the pleat edges lose some of their sharpness in the wash. But they also lose sharpness on me through just regular wear. Usually I compensate for this by washing them and then sharply creasing the pleat edges by hand when they're still damp and hanging up to dry, which seems to work fine. None of them have ever held a pleat (even when they were brand new) as well as my P/V kilts, so I can't say I get too worked up about how sharp the pleats are. My P/V kilts seem to keep their pleat sharpness through the wash pretty much by themselves - I just wash them and then straighten the pleats while hanging, but re-creasing them is not as important, and they mostly take care of themselves re: wrinkles and pleats once they dry.

However, if you're worried about it, you might try some of the advice from this thread, which is about ironing/pressing pleats on acrylic kilts:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ng-kilt-58263/

Steve explained it perfectly.

[revdpatience]

Allan:

I do have to wonder, if you are not leaving the house, what is happening that your kilts are getting dirty?

I've been working from home for four weeks now, and have done very little laundry in that time. Nothing gets so stained by a day's wearing that I can't wear it again. (Socks and undies excepted, of course.)

Others have given the technical answer to cleaning a wool or other type of kilt, but I want to press the question of cleaning it at all. I have worn my eight-yard wool kilt pretty frequently (summer and winter) over the last three years or so, and have not once had to clean it.

Rodger

Due to prevalent situation, we can't go out. What you guys think is the best way to wash/clean my kilts at home?
I'm really upset, my kilts are getting dirty.