Professionally dry cleaning your clothes frequently can become really expensive. And if you have lots of items that require special care, it can significantly add to your budget.
But you know, there are ways with which you can cut down this essential expense without compromising with the quality of the clothes. Wondering how?
Well, you can try dry cleaning your clothes at home. Yes, you read it right. It is possible to efficiently dry clean your clothes at your home without disturbing your budget.
Interested in knowing how to do dry cleaning at home? Here is a simple process that can help you to get the best results without any hassles.
Dry Cleaning at Home:
Are you tired of spending a lot on dry cleaning your delicate clothes? If so, then dry cleaning them at home can be one of the best alternatives.
Home dry cleaning can offer thorough cleaning but only when you take care of all the necessary requirements. There are certain measures that you should keep in mind while trying home dry cleaning. Interested in knowing?
Here is a detailed analysis of all the things that you should pay attention to when trying dry cleaning at home.
a) Things that you should check before dry cleaning:
1. Know what to dry clean:
Before getting into the process, the first thing that you should be sure of is to know which clothes to dry clean.
All your delicate clothes, linens, cotton items, and clothes with intricate embroidery that are machine washable are suitable to get dry cleaned at home. If the cloth is silk or wool, then it can easily be hand-washed instead of dry cleaning.
Clothes that are made from leather, fur, and suede are not appropriate for home dry cleaning. Therefore, it should be left for professional cleaners. Also, if the cloth’s label is “dry clean only”, then the cloth should be trusted only with professional dry cleaning; whereas if it reads “dry clean”, it can be dry cleaned at home.
2. Analyze the stains:
Once you have discovered the cloth details, the next thing that should get your attention is the stain.
If the cloth has 1 or 2 stains (light stains), it is okay to go for home dry cleaning. But, if the cloth is heavily stained with mud or any other similar substance, then choosing home dry cleaning would not make any sense.
Heavy stains require proper supervision and thus, such clothes should be dry cleaned from professional help.
b) The home dry cleaning process:
After you are sure of the type of cloth and the stains on it, now is the time, to begin with the detailed home dry cleaning process:
- To perform dry cleaning at home, you would need a dry cleaning kit which is easily available in the market.
- For being totally sure that the garment is safe for home dry cleaning, apply the stain-remover solution available in the kit on the hidden area of the cloth.
- If there aren’t any consequences, then you are okay to use the stain-remover on the main stain. Use the solution directly on the stain and rub it a bit. Be careful of not applying the stain-removing solution on the entire cloth as it damages the fabric, shape, and quality of the cloth.
- Once you have applied the stain-remover solution on the stain, next you would need the special dry cleaning bag available in the kit.
- Put the clothes in the bag and be sure of putting only 2-3 clothes at one time. Avoid over-crowding the bag with more clothes as it will leave no space for rotation of the clothes.
- After you have added the right number of clothes in the dry cleaning bag, now is the time to use the main magic for home dry cleaning – the dry cleaning sheet/cloth. The dry cleaning sheet contains the desired amount of water, an emulsifier, and perfume to infuse a pleasant and soothing smell in your garment.
- Use the dry cleaning sheet and put it in the dry cleaning bag with the other clothes.
- After you have added all the essentials in the dry cleaning bag, you need to be sure of the provided instructions of the kit. After carefully analyzing the instruction, place the dry cleaning zipped bag in the tumble dryer of the washing machine.
- Now, set the time for the tumble dryer which should not be more than 30-minutes.
- As soon as you start the dryer, steam is generated in the dryer. This steam ensures to infuse the soothing fragrance on the cloth with its evaporation. It also removes all the wrinkles from the clothes to make them super smooth.
- Wait for the dryer to complete its time. After it is completed, remove all the clothes from the dry cleaning bag and let them dry.
- Preserve the dry cleaning bag and the home dry cleaning kit for future use.
c. How to dry clothes?
After completing the steps of washing for home dry cleaning, the next steps are concerned with properly drying the clothes. Properly drying the clothes is really important to keep them wrinkle-free and as a result, enhances their lifetime and looks.
Have a quick look at some of the steps that should be followed for efficient drying:
- Hang the clothes on the hanger and allow them to dry naturally. Make sure there are no wrinkles on the clothes.
- If the clothes are dried without any wrinkles, then simply fold them and store them in a zipper bag. But, if there are still wrinkles on the clothes, then you can try ironing the clothes.
- Make use of a steam iron for suitably ironing the clothes to get rid of the excess wrinkles from the clothes.
- Once the entire process is completed, if you still can see some stains on the clothes, then repeat the process to get the desired results.
This completes the entire process of dry cleaning your clothes at your home that you can rely on for thoroughly cleaning your clothes of all the stains.
Is home dry cleaning really effective and worth?
Most of us now invest a good amount for buying our clothes and especially the ones that are for some special occasions. We all want the best treatment for our clothes to keep them in the best form for the maximum time.
While we are talking about home dry cleaning, most of you must have thought if it is really a good idea, isn’t it? This is a general thought that naturally comes when we are concerned about handling our delicate clothes.
To end this concerning confusion and to ensure you about the reliability of home dry cleaning, we positively recommend the process. Yes, dry cleaning your clothes at home is an effective way to keep them in their best form.
Dry cleaning the clothes instead of washing them makes them last longer and keeps them new for the maximum time. Just make sure that you are clear with the instructions and the proper process of dry cleaning your clothes at home. You will surely get the desired result if you follow the process as instructed.
Sheena Behera knows the top to bottom when it comes to home appliances. She graduated from the Indian Institute of Science with Mechanical Engineering in the year 2011. She has spent a lot of time working with clientele who require safe and efficient electronic appliances. Her main task at apolloedoc, as an expert, is to provide an unbiased opinion on the safety, durability, and longevity of products we use at our homes daily.
She has ample experience in HVAC systems ((heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and sets strict standards for what passes in her list. Sheena has been working with us since 2018 and has consistently provided our readers with the necessary information to make the right buying decision.
Playing badminton, keeping herself fit, and binge-watching series’ on Netflix are some of her favourite pastimes. She also enjoys flowing away in the stories of fictional books like Harry Potter and The Handmaid’s Tale. She has a chirpy, yet strong collaborative skills and works hand-in-hand with our other writing experts whenever required. Although her family is originally from Odisha, she has spent most of her childhood in Bangalore due to her father’s transfers.