if new beads are obtainable the damaged ones could be replaced.
Cotton velvet pile loses its uniform appearance after successful machine drycleaning, this velvet jacket looked slightly creased and crumpled but was otherwise satisfactory. The cleaner finished it on the reverse with plenty of steam and no pressure on the iron. The result was removal of the creasing with some slight but visible pile distortion. Velvet should normally be finished face side up using bottom or
ironing surface steam. the cleaner is responsible for correct finishing using the correct tools and techniques and should take responsibility here. Cotton velvets are normally straightforward to finish and can, if necessary, be brushed gently with a soft brush while bottom steaming to level up the pile. Acetate velvets can also be bottom steamed but must not be brushed or touched before vacuuming. Acrylic pile fabrics (such as Dralon) should not be finished.
STEAM FINISH: Cotton velvet should be finished with bottom or ironing surface steam
Dye bleed ruins dress this garment was heavily soiled with neckline perspiration and make-up, which appeared to be water-based (from the wet rub test results). The cleaner decided to dip the dress in water to soften and remove the water-based marking before drying and drycleaning. The dye bled from the black into the white in water and drycleaning did not improve this. many dyes are safe in drycleaning, but may bleed in water, as the cleaner found here. This might have been why the dress was labelled “dry clean only”. The dyes here appeared stable to drycleaning when tested, which is why this did not reverse the bleeding. the blame here lies with the cleaner. This damage was avoidable. if the black panel could be
DYE BLEED: Black dye bleed surrounds the black belt after immersion in water
removed, it is possible that dipping in water with a mild detergent (or wetcleaning) would remove the black discolouration from the dress. For the future, when wet-treating a fabric, it is always wise to check first the colourfastness to water and solvent of each of the colours. This only takes a few seconds and could have avoided the problems here.
If you have problems you would like the authors to examine, please send with a good quality, high resolution (300dpi/1MB at least) pic of the item to
kathy.bowry@
laundryandcleaningnews.com
WHAT WENT WRONG: READER QUERY Why did the colour loss happen?
Colour loss and loose dies are becoming more common – yet another potential pitfall for cleaners to look out for, say Roger Cawood and Richard Neale
reader has requested our views on an area of colour loss and discolouration that appeared on a grey linen jacket following drycleaning. In the absence of any explanation for the problem, he had already accepted responsibility and compensated the customer.
A
Information received from the cleaner
The jacket was drycleaned in perc in a 13kg load of light/medium garments using a ‘Normal’ programme. The load was mainly comprised of wool, wool/ polyester and cellulosic fibre types. As the
jacket was thought to be linen, the cleaner did not pre-spot it. Several garments in the load were pre-spotted with a general pre-spotting soap/water mixture and some were pre-spotted using both water and solvent based kit chemicals. The grey linen jacket was lightly soiled but had no
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