Washing and drying a PV kilt

[Matty Ross]

I spilled Sweet and sower chicken on my new Poly Viscose kilt. I was wondering how do others wash and dry their machine washable kilts?

[Dusty]

I wash my PV kilt on the gentle cycle and hang to dry so pleats fall straight. I use two kilt hangers to hang kilt flat.

[Chas]

I would use the washing machine like Dusty above, but my old fuss-pot of a wife won't let me. (By that I mean the delightful and effervescent woman, who is not only a joy to be with, but also has such exacting and high standards when it comes to HER white-goods.)

I hand wash in the bath tub using Fairy soap flakes. I put a CD on and sing along as I gently agitate. When the last track starts, I switch to the shower head and rinse down. We have a triangular airer in the back garden and the kilt gets clipped to the upper line. Although it is a triangle, I cut the corners, so it is more round. There is a clip every 6" so the whole of the waist is supported. I find that the water just runs straight out.

[craigclan]

Wow .... I just throw mine in the washer with some soap and when it's done take it out shake it a couple times and hand to dry by a couple hangers clipped to it . When its dry give it a good shake and iron whatever pleates don't look right . All done quik and simple . Most times i dont even need to iron it .

[Riverkilt]

I use the washer for both semi-trad and casual. After I hang them from three cheap plastic big box hangers that I've added hanger clips to so that each hanger has five clips on it. Hang it from a shower rod. Have to double back the apron but since its all flat doesn't matter. Then add weighted clips to the bottom of each pleat so they dry in proper alignment and eliminate the need for ironing. Then let it air dry. I use a steamer to touch up the pleats or any wrinkles. Quick easy.

To make the weighted clips I just buy a few bags of extra hanger clips at the big box store and some 1/2 ounce fishing weights. Then duct tape a half ounce fishing weight to each side of the hanger clip.

[McElmurry]

If your waist and hip measurements are close you can hang the kilt and straighten the pleats. My waist and hip measurements differ by eight inches so the pleats don't hang straight. There is a thread around here somewhere with Steve demonstrating how to get the pleats to lay flat on a kilt with a tapered fell. If you fall in this category I'll try to hunt it down again.


See post number 5:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-pleats-83566/

[Zardoz]

I use the washer on gentle, but I lay the kilt out flat to dry, I've had much better results that way.
image.jpg

Take 10 minutes to lay out everything nice and smooth, and you shouldn't even need any pressing to have it ready to go

[O'Callaghan]

Hand wash and drip dry

[Mike_Oettle]

Perhaps some of you chaps are being too cautious about your PV kilts. I have two medium-weight kilts, one in PV and one in wool.
Before the first time I washed my PV I asked for advice from the woman I bought it from. Her husband wears kilts all the time (he is a piper) and she has some experience.
On her advice I tossed the PV into the washing machine and ran a normal cycle (cold water, since we don’t use hot, and it’s not recommended anyway).
One thing I was specifically warned about: do not use fabric softener – it will remove the cohesion of the polyviscose and reduce it to an unusable mess.
Afterwards I tossed it into the tumble drier for about half an hour. Job done.
With the woollen kilt I took a great deal more care: I put it in the bath, and added soap powder. Then I ran hot water, taking care to subject the kilt to no more rough treatment than gentle swishing. When the water was cold, I let it out, and ran more hot. This was repeated until the water was clear of soap. Then I hung the kilt up to dry, or on occasion I laid it flat on newspaper.
I have stuck to these two methods, which have served me well.
Regards,
Mike

[usonian]

With my USA Kilts casual PV I've had good success with a cold water, gentle cycle in the washing machine, then laying the kilt out flat on the bed with some towels under it to finish drying. Like Zardoz said, just take a few minutes to get all the pleats laying flat and even, and you'll be good to go once it finishes drying.