Washing DulciYarns
Common sense tells you to wash such things by hand. In cold water. Separately. And then lay flat to dry.
Yep, those are all the basic steps in keeping your scarves looking great!
Truth is, especially if you wear your scarf over a sweater or over any article of clothing where the scarf never touches your skin, you won't need to wash it very often.
But as the weaver of these various fibers, I can tell you first-hand how each item will behave, and spare you any hassle.
When I take a scarf off the loom, I let it "rest" for a day or two, or even longer if I'm busy with other stuff, and then I get ready to wash it.
The warp (vertical threads -- think longitude) is under great tension for the duration of the time it is on the loom. Tension is a weaver's best friend in this case, because without it the resulting fabric is uneven and wonky. The weft threads (horizontal -- the ones that actually do the weaving) are under little to no tension, other than enough to keep the edges straight without pulling in or too loose and floppy. They are happy to slip under and over each warp thread, tucking themselves into their own comfortable space. When the scarf is finished and taken off the loom, it doesn't always look great -- there may be uneven spaces or other discouraging irregularities -- but it will be fine after it's had time to settle in. The warp threads will gradually contract when the tension is released and will close in all the gaps around every weft thread. It's like magic!
This process repeats itself when it gets washed -- don't be alarmed if your scarf doesn't look great when it's wet. It will return to its awesome self after it's dry.
Wash:
Fill a small plastic dishpan with cold water and a small squirt of Dawn.
Submerge the scarf in the water, gently unfolding, lifting, and turning to be sure all surfaces are saturated.
Continue the gentle agitation for a few minutes.
Take a look at the color of the water -- if it's completely clear, you're ready to rinse. If you see some color, here are the two main causes:
1. Hand-dyed yarn will sometimes 'bleed" some color, especially if it has been made with red dye. All shades of purple through orange are made with red, so do watch for this. I personally wash ALL my scarves before making them available to others, so you will likely see little to no color in your wash water. But if you do, dump the water in the dishpan, run cold water from the tap directly through all the layers of the scarf and then put it back in the clean rinse water. Check for color -- still see some? Repeat -- squeeze out as much water as possible, run a new dishpan full of cold water, submerge, squish, check. When the water is completely clear (and you will probably only have to do this 2 or 3 times, if at all), you're done.
2. If the scarf has been exposed to dust or cigarette smoke, or is otherwise soiled, you'll see the water will not be clear. Lift the scarf out, dump the dishpan, and make a fresh soapy batch of water. Resubmerge and check again. It may take several times before the water looks clear, but when it is you can go ahead and rinse.
Rinse:
Hold the scarf under running cold water for a few minutes, until you don't see any more suds on the surface. Run a fresh dishpan of cold water, submerge and squish the scarf around one more time, and then lift it out, squeezing as much water out as possible.
Dry:
Have a towel laid out on a countertop or table, fold your scarf in half (doesn't have to be neat or exact), and lay in the towel, rolling from one end, squeezing excess water into the towel as you go. Then unroll it and prepare to let it dry.
You'll have to get creative about where to lay it out -- I use the railing of my deck, which is vinyl. I lay it out lengthwise, and depending on the weather (and the fiber) after several hours it is dry enough to readjust. I then hang it over the banister, or if the weather is not clear, I take it inside and hang it over a round shower curtain rod. Wet scarves are heavy, and if you hang them at first, you may have some stretching, which is not necessarily a bad thing in a scarf!
Fringe -- Almost all the fringes on my scarves are left loose and the ends -- I like them that way, and I especially love the way they look when hanging and swirling and floating around. But -- the fringe will tangle somewhat, no matter how gentle you are during the washing process. The strands will easily come untangled with just a little patient tugging, and I recommend you do that while the scarf is still wet. (It might work just as well after it's dry, but I personally have never wanted to take that chance, so I can't advise on that.)
Sometimes the very tips of the strands get a little fuzzy -- just take your scissors and snip off the fuzzy parts -- they will not unravel. I've left you plenty of fringe, so you can easily trim away some of it and still have plenty left. But be smart about it -- we all know a little kid who decided to trim her Barbie doll's hair without understanding that it would not grow back. Don't be that kid.
Some fibers in these scarves take a long time to dry -- up to three days indoors without heat. Some folks have a nice warm furnace room in the basement, so that would shorten the drying time. When I lay mine on the railing outside, they get a head start on a sunny day, so that helps. (I do NOT put them in direct sunlight, however.)
Iron:
And finally, it's okay to iron them -- on a very low setting. Your iron has a dial that will set it correctly for wool or rayon. Treat bamboo and tencel the same as rayon. Merino, llama, Donegal, and other animal fibers would be at the wool setting. Light steam is fine in either case.
Ironing is not required -- these are scarves that are meant to be knotted casually around the neck and otherwise crushed and scrunched, but if it's a dressier scarf, you'll appreciate the sheen that is brought out by the smoothing effect of an iron.
Dry clean???
I don't, and likely never will -- all my scarves are hand-washable as stated above. But if your dry cleaner says yes, your scarf would probably come back looking really gorgeous. Let me know if you try this.
Yep, those are all the basic steps in keeping your scarves looking great!
Truth is, especially if you wear your scarf over a sweater or over any article of clothing where the scarf never touches your skin, you won't need to wash it very often.
But as the weaver of these various fibers, I can tell you first-hand how each item will behave, and spare you any hassle.
When I take a scarf off the loom, I let it "rest" for a day or two, or even longer if I'm busy with other stuff, and then I get ready to wash it.
The warp (vertical threads -- think longitude) is under great tension for the duration of the time it is on the loom. Tension is a weaver's best friend in this case, because without it the resulting fabric is uneven and wonky. The weft threads (horizontal -- the ones that actually do the weaving) are under little to no tension, other than enough to keep the edges straight without pulling in or too loose and floppy. They are happy to slip under and over each warp thread, tucking themselves into their own comfortable space. When the scarf is finished and taken off the loom, it doesn't always look great -- there may be uneven spaces or other discouraging irregularities -- but it will be fine after it's had time to settle in. The warp threads will gradually contract when the tension is released and will close in all the gaps around every weft thread. It's like magic!
This process repeats itself when it gets washed -- don't be alarmed if your scarf doesn't look great when it's wet. It will return to its awesome self after it's dry.
Wash:
Fill a small plastic dishpan with cold water and a small squirt of Dawn.
Submerge the scarf in the water, gently unfolding, lifting, and turning to be sure all surfaces are saturated.
Continue the gentle agitation for a few minutes.
Take a look at the color of the water -- if it's completely clear, you're ready to rinse. If you see some color, here are the two main causes:
1. Hand-dyed yarn will sometimes 'bleed" some color, especially if it has been made with red dye. All shades of purple through orange are made with red, so do watch for this. I personally wash ALL my scarves before making them available to others, so you will likely see little to no color in your wash water. But if you do, dump the water in the dishpan, run cold water from the tap directly through all the layers of the scarf and then put it back in the clean rinse water. Check for color -- still see some? Repeat -- squeeze out as much water as possible, run a new dishpan full of cold water, submerge, squish, check. When the water is completely clear (and you will probably only have to do this 2 or 3 times, if at all), you're done.
2. If the scarf has been exposed to dust or cigarette smoke, or is otherwise soiled, you'll see the water will not be clear. Lift the scarf out, dump the dishpan, and make a fresh soapy batch of water. Resubmerge and check again. It may take several times before the water looks clear, but when it is you can go ahead and rinse.
Rinse:
Hold the scarf under running cold water for a few minutes, until you don't see any more suds on the surface. Run a fresh dishpan of cold water, submerge and squish the scarf around one more time, and then lift it out, squeezing as much water out as possible.
Dry:
Have a towel laid out on a countertop or table, fold your scarf in half (doesn't have to be neat or exact), and lay in the towel, rolling from one end, squeezing excess water into the towel as you go. Then unroll it and prepare to let it dry.
You'll have to get creative about where to lay it out -- I use the railing of my deck, which is vinyl. I lay it out lengthwise, and depending on the weather (and the fiber) after several hours it is dry enough to readjust. I then hang it over the banister, or if the weather is not clear, I take it inside and hang it over a round shower curtain rod. Wet scarves are heavy, and if you hang them at first, you may have some stretching, which is not necessarily a bad thing in a scarf!
Fringe -- Almost all the fringes on my scarves are left loose and the ends -- I like them that way, and I especially love the way they look when hanging and swirling and floating around. But -- the fringe will tangle somewhat, no matter how gentle you are during the washing process. The strands will easily come untangled with just a little patient tugging, and I recommend you do that while the scarf is still wet. (It might work just as well after it's dry, but I personally have never wanted to take that chance, so I can't advise on that.)
Sometimes the very tips of the strands get a little fuzzy -- just take your scissors and snip off the fuzzy parts -- they will not unravel. I've left you plenty of fringe, so you can easily trim away some of it and still have plenty left. But be smart about it -- we all know a little kid who decided to trim her Barbie doll's hair without understanding that it would not grow back. Don't be that kid.
Some fibers in these scarves take a long time to dry -- up to three days indoors without heat. Some folks have a nice warm furnace room in the basement, so that would shorten the drying time. When I lay mine on the railing outside, they get a head start on a sunny day, so that helps. (I do NOT put them in direct sunlight, however.)
Iron:
And finally, it's okay to iron them -- on a very low setting. Your iron has a dial that will set it correctly for wool or rayon. Treat bamboo and tencel the same as rayon. Merino, llama, Donegal, and other animal fibers would be at the wool setting. Light steam is fine in either case.
Ironing is not required -- these are scarves that are meant to be knotted casually around the neck and otherwise crushed and scrunched, but if it's a dressier scarf, you'll appreciate the sheen that is brought out by the smoothing effect of an iron.
Dry clean???
I don't, and likely never will -- all my scarves are hand-washable as stated above. But if your dry cleaner says yes, your scarf would probably come back looking really gorgeous. Let me know if you try this.