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

[bwat]

Just in case you find yourself in Sweden with a dirty kilt, then half an hour in a tub of 35 degree C water with about 25-30ml of COOPs fintvättmedel works just fine for woolen kilts. This is a liquid for clothes designed especially for wool and silk. It contains no enzymes or bleach. I had to rinse the kilt four or five times. What a difference it made to the colours! The kilt was dried out by just hanging it from the drying rail thingy I have in my bathroom. The pleats were not stitched together before washing and the dried kilt has kept its form very well, i.e., I can see all the pleats very clearly.

[CameronCat]

I may be truly blessed, but here's my story. I live perhaps 20 min or so from Rocky's store in SE Penna. I occasionally bump into him or his staff members at local events. I once asked one of his shop staff about where to dry clean my USA kilt. He recommended a place in our nearby town that I was already patronizing for normal items.

"They know about kilts?" I asked. "Yep, and even how to iron the pleats!" he replied. "When we had the store there, we used them all the time."

I have recently picked up my kilt from that establishment, and it is done to perfection with crisply and correctly ironed pleats, etc. Total cost was, I think $10.95. Yes, it was marked "skirt" on the claim check. The nice lady at the counter complimented "how pretty" the kilt is (Cameron Erracht tartan) and said it was a bit of a chore to do each pleat with the iron.

I also had my Harris tweed jacket cleaned at the same time (recovering from a nasty ice cream incident at a local fund-raiser) and it too is as-new. I couldn't be happier with these folks cleaning any wool product I own.

Even valuing my time at minimum wage, I doubt I could have washed and ironed the kilt at home for $11, and certainly not the jacket.

[Stitchwiz]

There is a fabulous Canadian product which is great for woollens - it is called Soak. It is a no rinse formula. My neighbour uses it when she finishes knitting to help set the yarn. She loves it.
There is a testimonial at the bottom of the homepage with sheep in the picture. Check it out. A friend of ours uses this product the same way; she cleans new wool with this product. Then she cards, spins, dyes and knits using her own home-grown wool.

I will be cleaning Dad's kilt after our Christmas celebrations using this product. I will let you know how it turns out.

www.soakwash.com

[RGRatSea]

This year, 2014, I had my casual kilt pressed at a cleaners in Carlisle, UK after being assured they did many kilts. My pleats were starting to suffer the frequent wearing and whe returned they looked great! Now, back in the US, I appreciate all the information shared. It seems risky to to over-clean the kilt and as for pressing, well for now I may just do it myself. "If yer man enough to wear a kilt yer man enough to press yer own pleats." As the for the pricey formal kilt . . . Hmmm. I think I'll keep reading. Thanks for the info.
Ryc

[Pleater]

Having had kilts for some time now I notice how long lasting they are.

Hand washing, careful draining on a rack and then hanging to dry, followed by ironing and pressing as needed seems to put very little age onto the fabric. Tumble drying does seem to be best avoided as the very edges of creases can become worn by the process.

So far, out of all the kilts I have made from all sorts of fabrics, only one has been thrown away and that was due to it being ripped across the apron by the edge of a metal shelf.

Some leather straps have lost their surfaces and become suede ones, but other than that there has been very little alteration over what is now years of use. I think the surface was some form of plastic or rubber put onto split skin and it cracked and fell off with use. I use black silk button thread to attach the leather, and cut through each stitch to remove it before washing. This doesn't seem to do any damage to either the kilt or the leather - I go through the same holes in the leather each time.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: