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

[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: