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Laundering uniforms: by hand vs dry cleaning, help me figure it out?


BigBrother
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So I keep going back and forth and back and forth on my cleaning path for the vintage items I’ve been collecting (both militaria and non-). Before I get into it, to clarify this is not for “I just bought something and need to deep clean it (ala summer whites)”, this is for, say, shirts or pants after they’re worn for a day. Normal laundry stuff. And this would be for standard cotton and wool items, nothing exotic or that very obviously requires one method or the other (like a suit jacket which I would only dry clean).

 

So, here goes!

 

Hand washing

- Would be done with cold water in a bucket with very gentle soap (delicate-variety Woolite, etc.), then roll-dried and laid flat on a towel to dry, and finally steamed.

- Pros: I have control over the whole process. Most delicate/least damaging approach (I think. Maybe water in general is bad over time (?)) Effectively free. I don’t have to rely on dry cleaner hours and the whole rigmarole.

- Cons: LABOR and TIME. Between militaria and normal vintage, a laundry day like this would literally entail an entire day, not to mention drying and then steaming time. Don’t think I could steam things as well as a dry cleaner could press them. And I’m not sure that constant soaking is good over time (?)

 

Dry cleaning

- This was going to be my approach until my first time when I took a pair of vintage 1935 trousers to a place and got them back with all buttons replaced as the originals had melted off. That said, all the vintage and militaria dealers I talk to seem to rely on dry cleaners regularly.

- Pros: convenience. Much sharper final look, I feel, than with steaming.

- Cons: riskier? Much more expensive. Not sure if more damaging over time than cold water soaking.

 

So what do you all think, and what have been your experiences?

 

Thanks all!

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He does reenacting/swing dance. I assume he has a certain expectation of "wearability".

To me this is all so simple. Gentle, DIY sink cleaning for smelly original items or buy repros for dancing. Not much more to it IMO. If you want to wear originals then you just have to find clean items that will eventually smell due to your use.

If you are bitten by the collecting bug, cleaning isn't the imperative. They will air out eventually. If you insist on them being original and wearable for dancing, not sure what to advise.

D

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I’ll clarify: this is indeed for reenactment and dancing. However, items worn dancing (and needing cleaning) are components that aren’t going to suffer any damage or serious wear- think tough OD wool or cotton pants with equivalent shirts, all of which are in good condition. Tunics, rare items, delicate items, etc. are only for display and come off beforehand. Also it’s more social dancing than insane, abrasive performance. So basically imagine a hot day on a parade procession and just needing to clean after that.
 

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Well, that was revealing. I don’t know how other vintage people who advised me manage to wash wool and avoid what just happened: I tried a single pair of wool trousers and they lost about an inch on inseam and waist :\. Granted I used a machine on gentle, cold water (couldn’t do by hand in a bucket just yet) but I don’t think that should’ve made a difference. Dried it carefully, flat as they advised, and lost the sizing as described. I think it’s dry cleaning for me from here on out. A warning to all those who tread here! :)

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1 hour ago, kammo-man said:

You don’t wash wool in a machine 

Going off of something I read elsewhere (and now this), I’m wondering if the agitation is what caused the shrinkage. I always assumed it was temperature-related. So maybe bucket dunking is still fine.

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/1/2021 at 2:17 PM, BigBrother said:

Going off of something I read elsewhere (and now this), I’m wondering if the agitation is what caused the shrinkage. I always assumed it was temperature-related. So maybe bucket dunking is still fine.

.....never wash anything, original or repop in a machine, period. I wash everything in a bucket and hang it up to dry. We still have a clothesline. Now, my exception. My wife was introduced to a cleaning bag for delicate items many years ago. It has very explicit instructions on how to use it and dryer settings. She has used it on my wool items with no ill effects. 

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33 minutes ago, Vanderbilt said:

.....never wash anything, original or repop in a machine, period. I wash everything in a bucket and hang it up to dry. We still have a clothesline. Now, my exception. My wife was introduced to a cleaning bag for delicate items many years ago. It has very explicit instructions on how to use it and dryer settings. She has used it on my wool items with no ill effects. 

i used to machine wash cottons on slow and with cold water, but now i hand wash i i like to do it, it yields better results, and i can do wools with handwashing, i just use my laundry room sink

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23 hours ago, daswrack said:

i used to machine wash cottons on slow and with cold water, but now i hand wash i i like to do it, it yields better results, and i can do wools with handwashing, i just use my laundry room sink

....I am approaching this commenting about clothing I wear to our local or club shoots. I wash wool trousers in a bucket with a dash of woolite. Then rinse them out and hang to dry. Wool coats, I will brush them out after being worn and once a year or so put in the dryer with the cleaning bag and solution my wife has. Wool vests and wool or cotton shirts get the same treatment as trousers. Pretty much the equivalent of "washing them in the creek and beating them on a rock"!  If I were purely a collector. I'd air them out. Unless they had moths, lice eggs or such. I would do nothing to them.

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