Cashmere Care
I know, I, for one, love cashmere in the winter. There is something very cozy and comforting about cashmere and oh my goodness, a cashmere sweater keeps you very warm on a chilly day.
What we commonly call “cashmere”, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft.What a great combination – strong, light and soft! No wonder cashmere is such a wonderful texture to feel against your skin.
As warmer days approach, it is time to start thinking about getting all our cashmere sweaters clean and ready to store for the summer. The most important first step in storing your woolens, is to have them clean. This is important, as fresh stains that may not yet be visible will oxidize and become fixed during storage. These stains may also be the food for moths. Moths have a discerning palate, they feast only on natural fabrics.
Even though the label on your favorite black cashmere turtleneck says “Dry Clean Only”, we have found that washing is much better. It makes sense as cashmere is a natural fiber and loves being washed! We got this tip from a friend, Wendy, who told us her “cashmere story”:
“I was purchasing a cashmere sweater (on sale, I do believe) at Saks in Boston. The sales woman asked if I knew how to care for the sweater. I replied that I would wash it by hand in Woolite. She informed me that cashmere is actually hair and that I should use baby shampoo. She told me to use a quarter of a cup of baby shampoo in the washing machine (and I wait until I have several to do), and wash on the gentlest cycle. Then, to place it in the dryer, yes, you read right, the dryer, for 10 minutes. She said to then take it out and hang it on a drying rack or lay it on any flat surface (on a towel) until completely dry. The next step, she said, was to press it with a warm iron.
My 15+ year old sweaters look like new but fluffier and softer. The best part is they do not have the cleaner chemical smell from the dry cleaner.” Try it! Your sweater will be softer and prettier than ever!
If you choose to wash your sweater by hand, be sure to use a very mild soap like Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and cold to luke warm water. The water should not be hot as you will find that hot water will shrink your sweater. Do not wring the sweater whilst washing – just gently push the sweater with your fingers, rather like kneading dough. Let it soak in the shampooed water for a couple of hours.
Once you have washed your sweater and have it nice and clean, dry it flat on a drying rack. Drying racks are great as they let the air in behind the item being dried. A quick dab with a warm iron, as mentioned by Wendy, finishes the job beautifully.
Now that your cashmere sweater is washed and ironed, and you are ready to put it away for the season, put it away in a cedar chest, if you have one. If not, put it in a plastic bin with mothballs or cedar chips with the lid securely on. Cedar chests are wonderful as the moths do not get in. We learned the hard way. Years ago, my husband, Dennis, had to replace most of his cashmere sweaters as the moths had a veritable feast on them. Lots of holes they had! We did buy a cedar chest at that point and have not lost one since!
Onward we go, rejoicing in those “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer”!
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Great tips Two Chums! I hate that dry cleaner chemical smell!
Is the baby shampoo safe for HE front loader washers?
Thanks!!
Lea this is a really great question. I did some research and on every site I read they recommended baby shampoo to wash the sweaters in and most recommended using a front loading washing machine because there is no agitator (that cylinder in the middle) in front loading machines. Nothing was specifically said about HE machines however so I am going to try washing a sweater of mine in baby shampoo in my HE front loader and will get back to you with the results….stay tuned and thanks for asking such a useful question:)
Have you tried the front-loading washer and did it work well? I’m ready to do it myself, so please let me know!
Yes Jackie, I have washed several cashmere sweaters on the delicate cycle of my front loading washing machine. They came out looking great! Frankly, now that I’ve washed my good sweaters this way, I will never send them to the dry cleaners again. I love my front loading washer for this and everything else, so if you are thinking about getting one, I would tell you it is a great decision that you will never regret 🙂
I personally loved the cashmere story! Thanks for sharing it with ALL your subscribers.
Best,
Wendy
Thank you, so much, Wendy, for sharing your experience. So helpful!
Oh, Mrs. Page –
I’ll bring all my cashmere sweaters over to your laundress right away and I’ll pick them all up next week. I’m WORN OUT just reading this post with all the steps I have to take in cleaning all my cashmere. I’d be working on this project til next winter!! And to even think of putting them in the dryer for even ten minutes is unthinkable to me. I can’t afford to have them shrink. My sweaters run between $600. – $1100. — and I didn’t buy most of them on sale!! No dryer will ever touch my cashmere!
So, as much as I enjoyed learning about the background of cashmere and as much as I respect your experience, this is one place where we “split the cashmere”! It’s too much work and I don’t have the experience (nor do I even own an iron) and I won’t experiment with my cashmere sweaters. So it’s off to “The French Hand Laundry” for me!!!
Your, otherwise, loyal supporter,
Dick Horner of Burbank
Moths, chez moi, just laugh at my cedar blocks and chips. Unopened bars of hand-soap [Safeguard?, Dial?] seems to work better. Without a cedar closet, I don’t know how to protect coats; do you have suggestions? Merci!
Jackie, wow, this was helpful!
I am sad to say I have one of these sweaters at the dry cleaners as I read this, but nary another will go that way now that I learned this! I have tried woolite but thot maybe I was not tending to my sweater in the best way.
Hair. Well of course! How simply brilliant and I am buying my baby shampoo today. Thanks for this bit of sweater wisdom Jackie!
Do you have tips for woolen items? I always seem ruin these.
Blessings two chums!
I am so glad that you found this helpful, Linda.
As far as woolens go, do you mean woolen sweaters? I usually do these in cool water with a mild soap. I much prefer washing to dry cleaning.