Thrifting wool! Yes indeed. It’s amazing what one can find. 100% cashmere at savers, and all over thredup. One year, my mom and I scrounged any and all large men’s wool sweaters, boiled them til felted and had the best sweaters for the kids! Any special advice on dry cleaning at the end of the season so one does not go bankrupt (bulk deals? Special places?).
Yes, and GAP and other such stores actually had much higher quality wool back in the day than now, when IF they have it, it’s recycled or mixed with synthetics. Even high end stores are full of “soft-as-cashmere” which means… not cashmere.
We don’t have that much dry cleaning, so I don’t worry about it too much. If you live closer to a city, it’s more affordable, I think…. just the cost of doing business and well worth it to protect that investment.
Thank you! Now that I think of it, we don’t have that much woven wool compared with the washable knit wool clothing. It’s worth it for sure, and more a cause for rejoicing that the dry cleaning will probably cost more than the original cost me. Just like tailoring a wedding dress - it’s just the price of making things nice. Thanks for the inspiration!
I hand wash delicate woolens, making sure never to wring or squeeze (rather just roll the wet garment in a huge towel to get the water out, and then dry flat.) This has worked really well on a silk-cashmere sweater I got recently on ThredUp (SO many good wool and nat fibers deals there, you are right!). For merinos you can use the machine. I do try to air dry but TBH many merinos have gone through the dryer with absolutely no problem. I'm not sure what I'd do with the very heavy wools (are those the woven wools you mentioned?), but I think I'd go with spot cleaning stains carefully, and airing out on the clothesline. I try to avoid dry cleaners bc all they seem to do is spray your clothes with chemicals. (I do use them for things I just can't deal with like tuxedos, but I specify "wash/dry/press"-- not sure what they really do, lol!!).
I share your concern about dry cleaners. My husband hasn't gone to an office in decades, he works at home, but he does have a couple of suits and sport coats. I think it's important that the suit be cleaned and pressed. I haven't done a deep dive but I think there are environmentally friendly places out there? Who knows what that means. I'm suspicious of everything LOL
The heavy woolens like big knit sweaters made of sticky wool (vs the smooth merino ones) can be washed in the delicate/handwash cycle or by hand. You just have to support them and they are trickier to dry if they haven't spun.
I had an environmentally friendly dry cleaner once that claimed to use orange peels and such as cleaners. It smelled glorious and seemed very effective. I also worry about moths making more problems if things aren’t well aired and cleaned. I do hate to lose something special to moths! Could we perhaps have a later post about how you store your wool, Auntie Leila?
Thrifting wool! Yes indeed. It’s amazing what one can find. 100% cashmere at savers, and all over thredup. One year, my mom and I scrounged any and all large men’s wool sweaters, boiled them til felted and had the best sweaters for the kids! Any special advice on dry cleaning at the end of the season so one does not go bankrupt (bulk deals? Special places?).
Yes, and GAP and other such stores actually had much higher quality wool back in the day than now, when IF they have it, it’s recycled or mixed with synthetics. Even high end stores are full of “soft-as-cashmere” which means… not cashmere.
We don’t have that much dry cleaning, so I don’t worry about it too much. If you live closer to a city, it’s more affordable, I think…. just the cost of doing business and well worth it to protect that investment.
Thank you! Now that I think of it, we don’t have that much woven wool compared with the washable knit wool clothing. It’s worth it for sure, and more a cause for rejoicing that the dry cleaning will probably cost more than the original cost me. Just like tailoring a wedding dress - it’s just the price of making things nice. Thanks for the inspiration!
I hand wash delicate woolens, making sure never to wring or squeeze (rather just roll the wet garment in a huge towel to get the water out, and then dry flat.) This has worked really well on a silk-cashmere sweater I got recently on ThredUp (SO many good wool and nat fibers deals there, you are right!). For merinos you can use the machine. I do try to air dry but TBH many merinos have gone through the dryer with absolutely no problem. I'm not sure what I'd do with the very heavy wools (are those the woven wools you mentioned?), but I think I'd go with spot cleaning stains carefully, and airing out on the clothesline. I try to avoid dry cleaners bc all they seem to do is spray your clothes with chemicals. (I do use them for things I just can't deal with like tuxedos, but I specify "wash/dry/press"-- not sure what they really do, lol!!).
I share your concern about dry cleaners. My husband hasn't gone to an office in decades, he works at home, but he does have a couple of suits and sport coats. I think it's important that the suit be cleaned and pressed. I haven't done a deep dive but I think there are environmentally friendly places out there? Who knows what that means. I'm suspicious of everything LOL
The heavy woolens like big knit sweaters made of sticky wool (vs the smooth merino ones) can be washed in the delicate/handwash cycle or by hand. You just have to support them and they are trickier to dry if they haven't spun.
I had an environmentally friendly dry cleaner once that claimed to use orange peels and such as cleaners. It smelled glorious and seemed very effective. I also worry about moths making more problems if things aren’t well aired and cleaned. I do hate to lose something special to moths! Could we perhaps have a later post about how you store your wool, Auntie Leila?
Thank you!