So I've finally ventured out of my room this summer, and my friend Akeylah took me shopping this past Monday. The stress relief of shopping with a good friend was exactly what I needed to cure my Monday Blues.
We were on a mad search for bathing suits, as I am taking a trip to Cape Cod in a few weeks and she leaves for Bermuda on Friday. Unfortunately, our local mall was fresh out of all cute bathing suits in our sizes--total bummer. As it were, I did find myself an adorable outfit (sans pants)!
Look at the beautiful detailing on the front of this! I mean seriously, how could I not buy this baby! And the fabric is super soft and comfy... It was love at first sight.
It wasn't until I came home, deciding to wash my new outfit before I would get to wear it, that I realized my new shirt was 100% rayon.
The terrible three words followed the material on the tag (after I had already ripped off the price tag, naturally): DRY CLEAN ONLY. I was doomed from then on out.
Should I hand-wash? Who at my age even knows how to do that? Should I toss it in the washing machine anyway? I'd likely risk the colors bleeding everywhere. Should I just wear the shirt for limited amounts of time and not wash it? That was obviously the more disgusting answer, brought up by the friend I was tossing ideas around with.
I am totally in love with this shirt. And I would hate to risk ruining it, especially before I even get the chance to wear it with the adorable new cardigan I bought along with it. This started my Google exploration on the best way to wash a rayon (or dry clean only) article of clothing. Not only will I share my findings, but I will share my experience as I wash my beautiful new tank top. Never has my sink looked so scary!
Most sources I checked out told me it was kind of trial by error and up to you to try things on your own. Which would mean that I really have no one else to blame but myself if I ruin my pretty new shirt! Bummer.
My girl Martha always has a solution it seems. When in doubt, ask Martha, (even though the article was technically written by Donna Garlough. You go Donna!). I'm sure on my journey to adulthood there will be many times where I say that phrase. According to the article, it should be pretty safe to hand-wash my shirt, especially since it's a dark color. I do expect the color to bleed a bit, but she says that filling the sink with luke-warm water and a gentle detergent, it'll all be okay. I hope to God she's right. All I apparently need to do is swish the shirt around in the water for no more than five minutes, rinse and let air dry.
Now comes the test!
To my great luck, we keep Woolite in our laundry cabinet. I filled my sink up with a mixture of warm and cold water (leaning closer to the cold side) and dunked my shirt into the mixture.
And suddenly I was hand-washing! How adult of me! I do admit, I was a bit scared--the only thing I've hand-washed was a few pairs of underwear in my early teen years. And this was not the cotton I was used to.
I definitely had it in the water for less than five minutes--I was terrified of making a mistake!! But I brought the shirt over to my other sink (I have two sinks in my bathroom), to rinse it out so I could show you the color of the water after I washed the shirt.
As you can see, my water was discolored. (Off camera it was way more purple). So, as anticipated, the colors bled. This made me very happy that I did not choose to wash with other items (including those of like color). It also made me wonder if my other clothes do this... I guess I may never know.
From here, I folded the shirt into a towel twice to squeeze out the moisture. I did this on opposite ends, as I was initially instructed to use a fresh towel--this may be laundry day, but I don't want to wash any more than necessary!
From here I was supposed to use yet another towel to lay the shirt onto to dry, switching sides halfway. Do I look like I'm made of towels? If I were at school I would have two and only two. My solution was simple--I just hung it up. Now, I know that is super far from what I was likely supposed to do, but I do this for all of my clothes that I don't put through the dryer, and I've never had a problem, regardless of material.
If you take a peek at the left of this picture, you'll see that I also tried to hand-wash the cardigan that went with this beautiful shirt. The directions were much more straight-forward, but I had a harder time wringing this one out. And with my luck, the next time I wear it, it will still probably be bubbly. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
All there is left to do is wait. Luckily, the shirt was meant to be a bit shorter than the typical tank, so I do not believe it has shrunk at all.
Before I get on to tell you how my shirt ended up, I should let you know that I did leave for the weekend, keeping the shirt hanging the entire time. I just wanted it to get reeeally dry... right?
Three days later, (I told you, I was gone!), and my clothes seem fine! My one complaint is that my sister left them on the back of the bathroom door instead of on the shower rack like I had them, and though she claims they were dry, one may never know.
Fortunately for me, I don't think that my personal drying method has really messed anything up. I would definitely recommend this method for rayon-type materials that are supposed to be dry cleaned! If I made it work (and believe me, I struggle on the daily), anyone can!
Abby
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