dry clean ? dip in woolite and drip dry or lay it out flat/ air out

[Angela Kaye Bodine]

Hi ! I'm concerned about how to clean my kilts.. If something gets on it I quickly wipe it off with cold water. NOT using paper towels etc. I have used another material to get it off or a baby wipe.. So far nothing has stained my kilts. I have read that you should never dry clean a kilt. BUT to reverse it and let air get to it.. But if I need to wash it or clean it, how ? If drip wash works great, but what happens if kilt gets soft . My kilts are still stiff the pleats.. how do I get the stiff back if I drip wash it ? Starch ? Teflon ? I have ironed my pleats (wool setting ) & they came out good.. My kilts look great would like them to keep looking great. I break up moth balls into little pieces in a mesh bag and only put a little in a re do every so often so I don't smell moth balls.. also fabric sheets under a shirt I don't wear so drawer isn't so powerful of moth balls, sheets dont touch kilts nor moth balls. I get alot of different answers about dry cleaners / drip wash.. So any suggestions would be cool.. thank you very much...

[Pleater]

Woolite is very harsh on wool - which seems strange, but I find that using ordinary shampoo, without conditioner, gives the best results. It is, after all, formulated to clean hair of the same things we need to remove from our kilts.

I fill the bath with just slightly warm water, add the detergent and swoosh it about then gently immerse the kilts and slosh very gently to get the water to move through the fabric without agitating it, as that causes felting and shrinking.

Let the water out keeping the kilts away from the plug and then lift them up onto something laid across the bath. I have a folding airer which I lay flat. Refill the bath and rinse the kilts in several changes of water. the number usually depends on the number and soiling of the kilts. I put a cup of white vinegar into the final rinse for the wool and wool blend kilts as that corrects their pH - the detergent being alkaline and wool prefers to be acidic.

I let the kilts drain in the bath for a while each time they are wetted - it saves broken seams. When the kilts are light enough to lift easily I lay them on the airer and usually leave them an hour or more, then I put the airer upright - into an inverted V shape, lay one or two towels over it, so the wires don't mark the fabric, then lay the kilts over the top of that overnight, then I hang up the top one, turn the remaining ones over and then hang them as they become light enough.

I smooth out the pleats when they are laid over the airer and again when they are being hung up. I use a set of heated hair smoothers on any pleats which are not folding correctly.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[The Wizard of BC]

There is really no danger to dry cleaning a kilt. Some less expensive straps will get dried out after 30 or 40 dry cleanings but I've never had a problem

One thing you must do when taking your kilts to a dry cleaner is tell them to write on your slip, in big red letters, DO NOT PRESS! Just have them clean the kilt, and hang it up.

If they press the kilt without basting the pleats first what you will get back will look like a shower curtain in the back.


The other method I use is hand washing. I too use baby shampoo and not Woolite.

I put my kilt in the bathtub and put in about 3 or 4 inches of cold water. I then get in a walk on the kilt. Don't agitate or wring the kilt in any way. Just gently work the suds into the pleats.

Then drain and re-fill with clean, cold water. Walk again.

Repeat as necessary till all the shampoo is gone.

I then roll the kilt up in a bath towel and walk on it again. When the towel is soaked I replace it with a dry one. Repeat with new towels till you have most of the water out.

I then pick up the kilt while still rolled in the towel. This is to prevent the fabric from distorting while wet.

I simply hang my kilts up to dry. If you walked on your towels real well the kilt should be dry enough to finish drying overnight.



What kills wool is heat and agitation. Use cold water and don't get over jealous with your washing. Just a gentle swishing of the water through the fabric is enough.

Detergent based cleaners are also death on Wool. They strip the lanolin right out of the fibers. I suggest simple soap or baby shampoo.

[Angela Kaye Bodine]

Hi Pleater aka Anne thank u very much, how often would you a person clean their kilts ? Also if need be can u use starch ? Or something else.. I thank you again.. I appreciate it very much ...Angie

[Angela Kaye Bodine]

Hi The Wizard of BC ( Steve ) I thank you as well. Can you use Starch ? If I do dry clean will Definitely say Do not Press. Thank you will Definitely take you and Anne's advice I appreciate it .. Angie

[Calgacus]

Ah, the joys of living in Scotland.

My dry cleaner knows how to correctly press a kilt and does a fine job. No shower curtain effect. I did ask first before using them the first time though.

[Angela Kaye Bodine]

Thank you Calgacus , I appreciate it, the dry cleaners where I live seem to what they are doing, never had a reason to use them until now. But never heard complaints. Will definitely ask if they have a clue about cleaning kilts... thank you ... Angie

[unixken]

Thank you Calgacus , I appreciate it, the dry cleaners where I live seem to what they are doing, never had a reason to use them until now. But never heard complaints. Will definitely ask if they have a clue about cleaning kilts... thank you ... Angie

The questions to ask would not be about the cleaning, so much as about re-pressing. Most cleaners who do not deal with kilts regularly would likely not be as particular/exacting as required, in the way they might need to be, to press the pleats while preserving a proper "lay" of the pleats to avoid wavey "stage curtain"-like results.

When in doubt, baste-stitch the pleats in place (use at least two rows, spaced about 6 inches apart) before bringing the kilt to the cleaners, and tell them not to press. If the "do not press" note gets lost and they press it anyway, your basting stitches should prevent incorrect results.

[Tobus]

I'm actually surprised that people do send their kilts to dry-cleaners. And even more surprised that their kilts don't get ruined in the process.

Most people don't understand what dry-cleaning really is. It's not a cleaning process that's dry. Your garments are washed in a chemical bath, using a washing machine that's not too terribly different than a front-loading washing machine like you may have at home. They are tumble-dried in warm air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_cleaning

Even if the dry-cleaning process won't necessarily ruin my kilt, I'm not sure I'd want to subject my kilt to that sort of treatment. Washing it at home in the bathtub and drying it gently with towels and a rack seems good enough. And actually, steaming a kilt and brushing it regularly can keep a kilt very clean without needing to wash it unless it's majorly soiled.

[creagdhubh]

I'm actually surprised that people do send their kilts to dry-cleaners. And even more surprised that their kilts don't get ruined in the process.

Most people don't understand what dry-cleaning really is. It's not a cleaning process that's dry. Your garments are washed in a chemical bath, using a washing machine that's not too terribly different than a front-loading washing machine like you may have at home. They are tumble-dried in warm air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_cleaning

Even if the dry-cleaning process won't necessarily ruin my kilt, I'm not sure I'd want to subject my kilt to that sort of treatment. Washing it at home in the bathtub and drying it gently with towels and a rack seems good enough. And actually, steaming a kilt and brushing it regularly can keep a kilt very clean without needing to wash it unless it's majorly soiled.

I've never taken any of my kilts to the dry-cleaners, and more than likely never will. I just don't trust them, and as you pointed out Tobus, the actual dry-cleaning process can do more harm than good. All I've ever done with a kilt is spot treat it with a wee bit of cold water and a clean towel when needed, which is very seldom, except for the occasional drop of ale or whisky on the apron.