Normally we have in the closet some garments of delicate fabric that we are afraid to clean at home but, if we know how to do it well, there is no problem in doing it ourselves. Perhaps you have a coat stored and you want to take it out again. But it smells musty or maybe your favorite wool coat has stained it while wearing it. Do you know how to clean it without taking it to the dry cleaner and making it look like new? We want to help you so that this autumn you can wear that coat that you like so much again, for this reason. In this article, we explain step by step how to wash a wool coat at home.
You will need to:
- Cold water
- Special detergent for wool
- Large towel
- clothes brush
Steps to follow:
Step: 1
Washing wool clothes at home is not difficult, but we must be careful because it is a delicate fabric. The first thing we should do is look at the label of our wool coat to make sure what its composition is. And what are the recommended instructions for its maintenance and cleaning? If we pay attention to the etiquette, we will have a woolen coat to be very warm for many years. There are several ways to wash it, but the one we choose will depend on whether the label specifies only one way to wash it because it contains a high percentage of wool or if it allows us more ways to do it by having a lower percentage of this fabric.
Step: 2
You can wash the wool coat by hand, for this fill a basin, the bathtub, or the sink with cold water, and use a special detergent for wool, which you can find in any supermarket. It is very important that you wash it with cold or slightly lukewarm water, but never with hot water since wool is a fabric that shrinks at high temperatures. Use the amount of detergent indicated on the detergent label to ensure you do not damage the fabric. And submerge the coat several times for a few seconds so that the soap and water penetrate the entire coat well. Let it soak for about 5 minutes, and then rinse the wool coat under plenty of cold water several times until you see no more detergent coming out.
Step: 3
To squeeze out the water, do not twist it, better press it in areas until you have removed all the water possible. You can roll it up in a large towel, trying to make it as smooth as possible, since wrinkles and folds are very easily marked in this fabric. Once the towel has absorbed the maximum amount of water, do not hang the coat to dry because it will surely mark the hanger, it is better that you spread it out on a flat surface on a dry towel and let it dry little by little. Turn it over every half hour to dry it out and to make sure it doesn’t wrinkle. when it is dry you will have your wool coat clean and like new.
Step: 4
Another possibility is to wash the wool coat in the washing machine, but only if the label does not indicate otherwise, and if your washing machine has a specific program for washing wool or delicate garments, make sure it is washed with cold water to prevent the coat from shrinking. It is very important that you remove the clips that it can wear, the belt if it has one and that you fasten all the buttons and close the zippers, this way you will avoid any part getting caught in the washing machine and breaking or damaging the coat. You can also put the wool coat in a special machine wash bag to make sure you avoid damage from the movements of the washing machine. It is preferable that you use the special detergent for wool mentioned above and that when the washing machine finishes the entire cleaning and spinning process, do not hang the coat, but spread it out on a smooth surface with a dry towel,
Step: 5
Another very useful option for cleaning delicate garments such as a wool coat is to wash only the dirty part, thus avoiding having to wash the entire piece since doing so unnecessarily would wear the fabric more and shorten the life of our coat. Follow the same procedure as washing it by hand. But only submerge the dirty area or the part where there is a stain. If you cannot submerge that part you can do it on a towel and wet the fabric until it is well-soaked and then wash it. Rinse in the same way under the tap.
Step: 6
Drying the wool coat is very important since the final result depends on how we do it. As we have already mentioned, wool is a fabric that shrinks at high temperatures. So we will always use cold water, but it is also vital that we do not use the dryer. Or a hand dryer to finish removing the moisture from our garment. You have to let it dry on its own, leaving it spread out on a large, smooth surface. To help us make the process faster we can open the windows. But never use hot air. Likewise, we should not hang it from hangers or on the clothesline. Because all the shapes and wrinkles will be marked in the fabric and the coat could be deformed. To finish, you can use a clothes brush to leave your perfect wool coat.
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