Washing cashmere

Hi everyone - this is my first post although I've been a Gransnetter for a long time! I have no idea where this will appear as I've been searching for a new post button or a help button but can't seem to find anything !!
I would really like to know what all the abbreviations mean - I'm sure there's a post about it somewhere but I just cannot find anything and it's quite hard going reading some posts without knowing.
I'm sorry if this appears somewhere inappropriate or hijacks a totally unrelated thread - I'm going to put it down to having been laid awake for hours!!!!!

Not cashmere, but my husband washed my hand knitted wool cardigan with the rest of the laundry and shrank it. He is still in the dog house about that. No idea some men.

Well I have done the deed. I followed Annodomini suggestion of the hand wash mode on the washing machine. I used Waitrose's cashmere and wool detergent . I then laid inside out sweater on a clean tea towel on the table. It is looking good so far and when it is dry I will report back.

barley loaves and fishes

This thread! ?

Thank you for thus bread, ladies. I have a new M&S cashmere sweater and I now know how to wash it. I have previous in shrinking woolies. ?

And a cold or cool wash is best as a hot wash sometimes 'sets' stains.

You need a bio detergent, perhaps spray with Vanish laundry spray first of all silverlining
At least it's a t-shirt and not a new carpet .....

I have used Woolite, handwashed, gently machine washed but still seemed to have wrecked my M&S cashmere sweaters. A Johnston one is fine and another Scottish made one is still OK but the M&S ones have matted and shrunk.

I must look for a knitwear comb

(different from a nit comb I presume )

The comb can be used on all knitwear and wool items that have piling.....got mine in singer sewing machine shop cost 4 pounds....just got a new one yesterday as I gave mine to my dil going home to Canada...it very useful

I always handwash then machine spin Cashmere . Use a touch of liquid detergent to handwash and some conditioner in the rinse cycle . I was interested to read someone suggesting a cashmere comb- will def look out for one . I tend to buy cashmere sweaters from Ebay and only the older ones (in good condition) as the new ones you can buy in M&S and Tesco etc bare no resemblance to the older type in quality and of course they are very much cheaper !

Usually white wine or salt will take away stains....before washing... what colour and fabric is it?

Not cashmere but a new tee shirt which i flung some red wine over, accidentally of course. Rinsed immediately and washed but some stain is slightly visible. Any suggestions ladies/ gents? Thanks

gillybob try wetting the feathers then drying slowly with a diffuser hairdryer. It's how we dry the hens after a bath!!!!

Just back on and reading white waves post.....great minds think alike!!!!!

oooops I should have read your post twice JackyB apologies

I thought you meant that it was a "fancy dress" as in a "clown"..... oh you know what I mean

I have just finished swooshing/blasting the feathers with a hairdryer and they are as good as new whitewave and Greyduster you clever, clever ladies...... phew

This is no "fancy dress costume" JackyB (well not in the term I suspect you mean anyway). Looking at the label I suspect it was a fair few £100's and the nasty stain was not on the feathers it was right in the middle of the pale pink dress itself.

Brilliant Folks thanks for the advice. At least I don't feel I have to buy a £20 bottle of cashmere shampoo now.

For the cashmere: I've heard that you can also use shampoo, if you haven't got any special wool detergent.

For the feathers - too late now, but I wouldn't have washed it, certainly not after dry cleaning. Just snip off and replace the feathers that were dirty. Quite honestly though, does it matter? A fancy party dress will only be worn once or twice in a lifetime and even then for 90% of the time in a dark room. Shame it was so expensive, though.

Thank you whitewave and Greyduster I will try a warm hair dryer later this afternoon when I get home. Seems quite a logical solution when you think about it. Fingers crossed as I think it is a VERY expensive dress.

I will second the warm hair dryer for feathers. After fishing I wash all my flies in warm water and then blow them dry with a hairdryer. It works especially well for downy things like duck, and marabou. I've never tied flies using cashmere but there's always a first time! ? In case anyone thinks this post is a wind up, it's not! (Except the cashmere bit!).

Cashmere and other woollies wash well, using Waitrose 'delicate' liquid detergent on the handwash setting on my washing machine. They dry flat on a mesh rack I found on Amazon. Learnt a hard lesson when I tumble-dried a cashmere cardi on the 'cool' setting. It looks good on my much slimmer DiL. I store cashmere and wool garments in ziplock bags.

Birds seem to sort of comb their feathers to keep them in order. How about a warm hair dryer blow?

I do the whole families "special" washing. I get fancy party dresses, cashmere jumpers (from one person) and everything in between. I swear by the Non Bio Delicate Liquid wash from Asda, which smells and feels lovely and has never let me down.

I am having a bit of a problem at the moment with a fancy party dress with feathers around the bottom. It has been dry cleaned and the stain did not come out. I have washed it using my trusty liquid and it has washed lovely, the stain has come out but the feathers won't seem to fluff back up. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

oh I've just read it!!!!!!!????????