Best way to wash/clean your kilt at home?

[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]

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

I'm a little messy, spilling food while eating and what not.

[revdpatience]

Well, as a member of that tribe, too, I certainly know where you're coming from.

But as others have said, unless the stain is really oily or gross, brushing often does the trick. (As does spreading your "day plaid" like a picnic blanket *over your lap* while you eat )

I'm a little messy, spilling food while eating and what not.

[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]

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.

[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.