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Member since 5/21/14
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Posted on: 6/9/16 7:26 PM ET
So....I took the plunge and threw a length of dupioni from FM into the washer on the most delicate cycle. It came out as stiff as it went in, so I hesitated a moment and tossed it in the dryer on low heat, gentle. Still stiff after a few minutes so I threw in a home made dryer ball, made with a plastic one over which I'd felted some wool and have been using for a few years. It came out a lovely softened version, but incredibly wrinkled.

No real success at pressing or ironing, but I admit that I have no clue as to how hot to use my Wawak SB600 (?) with the shoe. Tried a damp and wrung pressing cloth. If anything I make with it needs this much pressing.....whew! The crinkled look is all over, so I could go with it.

Help?
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Little strokes fell great oaks. On the other hand, go big or go home!

Projects completed in 2024: 3 pairs gloves. Four pairs of jeans. Five custom tarps. A dozen linen hankies. A wool wrap for a friend. Four linen bath towels and 24 washcloths. Two bed pillows.
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Posted on: 6/9/16 9:13 PM ET
I handwashed the vintage silk brocades my mom's friend passed along to me--and I have NEVER figured out how to hand wash anything without massive wrinkling. Even a trip through my dryer's steam cycle--which is usually never-fail--did nothing. A costuming friend reminded me to spritz them with a vinegar-water mix, and iron them. Voila! Gorgeous, soft, wrinkle-free silks. I don't know what it does, but it's like magic.

I'm sure I was very inexact when blending the vinegar; poured in an inch or so into a spritzer bottle, then filled the rest with water. (Put a label on so I wouldn't forget what it was. Ha!)
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~Elizabeth in the prairie
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Posted on: 6/9/16 9:14 PM ET
I am no real expert, but I read about washing silk several years ago as I had some silk blouses that I wanted to wash and it said to wash them, then roll them in a towel and leave them for a couple of hours, then iron them dry - that they shouldn't be allowed to dry. I did that to those blouses and they always turned out beautifully.

You might try rewetting them, rolling it in a towel, then ironing the fabric dry and see if it does better. It's worth a try.
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Posted on: 6/9/16 9:16 PM ET
In reply to blueviola
Was it that wrinkled when it came out of the washer?

The reason I ask is that I often wash and dry long lengths of fabric, and sometimes, they want to twist (especially in the dryer) and give you sort of perma-pleats. Sometimes washers, especially on a high speed spin cycle, do the same things.

What usually works for me is to either baste the sides together on very long lengths of fabric, so I'm prewashing, say 5 plies of fabric made by folding a 10 yard length, or cutting the fabric up into shorter "garment lengths" before prewashing. I try to avoid the very high speed spins (use a perma-press or even "wool" or "delicate" cycle, and then either dry the resultant fabric flat on a table in the sun or partially dry it in the dryer, then press the slightly damp fabric. If I let it go all the way to dry in the dryer, particularly if it's developed a twist during the drying process, I'm more likely to see the tough to press out wrinkles you're describing.

For shortish lengths of more delicate fabrics, like a couple of yards of dup, I'm likely to just pull it out of the washer and plaster it, still wet, to big windows, glass shower doors, or the like, then peel it off when it's dry. Hubby says he can always tell when I've bought some accent fabrics for a quilt, because the bathroom suddenly has quarter yard stripes of cotton prints covering both sides of the shower doors, all the mirrors, etc.
  
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Posted on: 6/9/16 9:41 PM ET
In reply to stirwatersblue
A water-vinegar mix definitely works. Good luck.
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Posted on: 6/9/16 10:13 PM ET
It wasn't quite as wrinkled just out of the washer, just what I'd expect after a spin cycle. But wowza, it was more crinkled than wrinkled out of the dryer. I don't have that much glass anywhere in my house! I do have a clothesline, which I use all spring, summer, and fall, even in winter if it is above freezing.

So it sounds like I could spritz it with vinegar water and try pressing it again, and if that fails, run it through the wash again, or just a rinse with vinegar and a spin, and wrap it in a towel and then iron it.

Does anyone know how hot to make my iron, with the shoe? It goes from 1-5.
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Little strokes fell great oaks. On the other hand, go big or go home!

Projects completed in 2024: 3 pairs gloves. Four pairs of jeans. Five custom tarps. A dozen linen hankies. A wool wrap for a friend. Four linen bath towels and 24 washcloths. Two bed pillows.
38.5 yards of fabric out.
  
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Posted on: 6/10/16 9:50 AM ET
In reply to blueviola
Dupioni does press better while still damp, I've found. But I am definitely going to try the vinegar/water solution next time, too! Because even pressing damp doesn't get rid of all the wrinkles from a cycle in the washing machine.
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Posted on: 6/10/16 2:56 PM ET
When I want to minimize wrinkling I dry fabric in the dryer with a dry bath towel. I don't know if this method would work with silk dupuoni.
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Posted on: 6/10/16 4:05 PM ET
In reply to labsrule
Quote: labsrule
When I want to minimize wrinkling I dry fabric in the dryer with a dry bath towel. I don't know if this method would work with silk dupuoni.

This is exactly what I do with all my silks before I sew them. Funny, though: I have never had dupioni do this wrinkle trick. They always come out of the dryer just fine--maybe a little softer, but never wrinkled.
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Elona
  
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Posted on: 6/10/16 7:17 PM ET
In reply to Elona
Yeah, but you put a towel in and I didn't!

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Little strokes fell great oaks. On the other hand, go big or go home!

Projects completed in 2024: 3 pairs gloves. Four pairs of jeans. Five custom tarps. A dozen linen hankies. A wool wrap for a friend. Four linen bath towels and 24 washcloths. Two bed pillows.
38.5 yards of fabric out.
  
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