Wool Great Kilt in a spin cycle?

[MHorne39]

Hello all,

I’ve just moved into a new place, and I’m having to adjust my method for cleaning my great kilts. At my old place, I would soak my great kilts in a tub along with some gentle wool wash, hand squeeze it out, and then hang it from a makeshift clothing rack, where the excess water would air dry and drip off onto the ground. However, at my new place, I’m having to dry it inside, so letting the water drip onto the floor isn’t an option as it’s inside the house and in a relatively high traffic area, so re-integrating my drip tray idea isn’t an option either. I had an idea that I would like input on. I was thinking of soaking it in wool wash as normal, hand squeezing it out, and then putting it in the washer only on a delicate spin cycle to hopefully push extra water out without wearing the fabric, and then hang drying it the last of the way and steaming it to knock wrinkles out.

Thoughts/concerns/advice?

This would only be for my wool great kilts, my method for cleaning tailored kilts should still suffice at my new home.

[SF Jeff]

I think the most obvious question is, can you hang it in a shower or over a bathtub? You can buy retractable clotheslines for showers just about anywhere. I know great kilts are big, so perhaps not an option.

Putting it through the spin cycle of your washing machine will remove a lot of excess water. If your dryer has a no-heat option (sometimes called a "fluff cycle"), that will remove even more water. After doing both of those the fabric will still be damp, but probably not enough to drip on the floor if you hang it inside.

[Liam]

My first question is what are you doing to require washing/ cleaning of a kilt either a great kilt or a tailored kilt?
a minor spot cleaning of my wool kilts is all I have ever done. My marton mills PV kilt has been washed once in 15 years. I rotate my kilts and air them out between wearing them and that suffices.

[MHorne39]

My first question is what are you doing to require washing/ cleaning of a kilt either a great kilt or a tailored kilt?
a minor spot cleaning of my wool kilts is all I have ever done. My marton mills PV kilt has been washed once in 15 years. I rotate my kilts and air them out between wearing them and that suffices.

I wear my great kilts to work at a farmers market, so they get dirt, coffee, cream, sometimes food, and other things on them throughout the day, and I don’t want to let those things sit and age on the kilt, hence the washing.

[ShaunMaxwell]

I wear my great kilts to work at a farmers market, so they get dirt, coffee, cream, sometimes food, and other things on them throughout the day, and I don’t want to let those things sit and age on the kilt, hence the washing.

No offense intended, but it seems an impractical garment for that type of work, especially in that climate. Hope you find a workable solution.

Cheers,

SM

[Liam]

I wear my great kilts to work at a farmers market, so they get dirt, coffee, cream, sometimes food, and other things on them throughout the day, and I don’t want to let those things sit and age on the kilt, hence the washing.

Perhaps an apron...

[User]

Wool felts when it's saturated with hot water and subjected to friction. If it's been washed with cool water and subjected to minimal friction from spinning, I imagine it will be just fine.

[Pleater]

Is the machine a top loader?

That would make spinning a large piece off woollen fabric a lot safer.
Here in the UK washing machines are just about all front loaders so I have kept an ancient spin dryer to deal with wool.

I roll up wool fabric and lay the roll around the edge of the drum so it is not pulled across the diameter of it, so if you can do something like that with your washing machine it should be perfectly safe - the method had never failed in almost 60 years of wool processing.

Anne the Pleater

[User]

Is the machine a top loader?
...

Whoa! Thank you Anne, good catch!
I've used a top loader my entire life, so I made the dangerous assumption that you're using one.

[Jock Scot]

Whoa! Thank you Anne, good catch!
I've used a top loader my entire life, so I made the dangerous assumption that you're using one.

What an interesting thread! International assumptions, even basic ones, can lead to, at the very least, awkward situations.