How To Dry Clean Clothes At Home?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 17:26

Dry cleaning at home has many advantages. First of all we are often too lazy to take out clothes to dry clean them due to our hectic schedules. Moreover, dry cleaning in the stores is not actually so 'dry'. Usually the professional shops don't have enough time to remover individual stains. So they just soak the clothes in the cleaning solvent. This is not good for your special clothes and shoots up the cost. Due to these disadvantages of dry cleaning at stores it worth trying dry cleaning at home.

What Clothes To Dry Clean?
Some clothes can stretch, shrink or get wrinkled if you wash then in water. They have to be dry cleaned.

Silk
Rayon
Dresses that have a tag saying 'Dry Cleaning Only'
Clothes with delicate embroidery
Expensive suits for men

Here are some easy home improvement tips to clean such clothes.

Dry Clean Supplies:
1. A dryer bag
2. Cloth for applying solvent
3. Cloth for removing stains
4. Stain removing solvent
5. Pad or cloth to absorb stain

How To Do Dry Cleaning At Home?

There are some home dry cleaning kits available these days. Dryel from Proctor & Gamble seems to be the most popular. Anyway all standard kits will contain these basic supplies for dry cleaning mentioned above.

You need to read the instructions given behind the collar of the clothes you are cleaning very attentively. Some clothes have special requirements that say that you have to wash them inside out or the embossed graphics may come off.

It the cleaning solvent is a concentrate then you need to mix it to get the right consistency first. Otherwise use it directly on the stain. Be generous but don't use so much liquid that the stain starts spreading.

Now rub the stained area with a cloth gently to create friction. Don't rub it like you rub clothes with detergent and hot water because the whole point of dry cleaning clothes is so as to not damage their delicate texture.

Seal off the stained area by sticking a pad to absorb the stain. This is very important because if the seeps out and settles on other parts of the garment then it would defeat the purpose of so much effort.

Now put the stained clothes and the cloth you have used to remove the stains into the dryer bag after sealing of the bag properly.

Set the dryer at medium to high temperature or fix the setting according to the instructions given behind the collar of the garment. Let the dryer run for about 20 to 25 minutes.