Washing Different Types Of Curtains
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I know there are many of you who are not sure how to clean certain types of curtains in your home. This is why I gathered some good information on different types of draperies, to be more precise, how to wash them properly. I hope you will find everything you need in this humble post and take care of your home on a new level.
SHEER GLASS FIBER CURTAINS
Such curtains call for hand washing in hot bubbles and, need no ironing like glass fiber draperies. They need a very soft handling while washing, like all other curtains but here it is all the more imperative to avoid mangling or twisting them. Rough handling or scrubbing is likely to cause the thread to break or distort the weave. In any case dirt glides down the glass fibers. As such no slap-dash methods are required. These curtains are the easiest to use. Just wash, rinse, and reuse without using any starch. They may be rolled into a towel or left out for a while to let them drip. Smoothen the seams and hems with your fingers and they are ready for use.
SHEER WASHABLE RAYON CURTAINS should be handled the same way as silken but may be washed uniformly well with mild detergents or unadulterated white soap flakes and warm water. Rayon fibers are not very strong when wet and therefore should not be soaked before washing. Do not hang them with clothes pins. They should be rolled in a Turkish towel to get rid of the moisture. Rayon’s behave differently as regards to the temperature they can withstand. The best option is to follow the manufacturers’ instructions. Else you should start with a warm iron, adjusted for rayon, and subsequently increase heat if needed. The top and bottom hems should be ironed first followed by ironing curtains along the length.
SILK CURTAINS fall in the category of the luxury curtains. Though not many of us would have them, directions for handling them are the same as for quite a few other articles like summer dresses and scarves.
WASHABLE SILKS SHOULD BE HAND LAUNDERED in tepid or cold suds made of a mild detergent that is far better for silks than the mildest soap. Gently you should squeeze the suds through the fabric. Rough handling harms the fibers. Having rinsed put them in between Turkish towels to get rid of excess moisture, and hang them to dry indoors, away from the sun or any other source of heat such as a radiator.
IRONING of SILK – after it has reached a level of uniform dampness, you may iron it after the iron has been set to “silk” setting. If you dry out silk completely and then moisten it by sprinkling water, it tends to get watermarks. This is particularly true for pongee that should be ironed when uniformly damp or when it is totally dry. It is good to take a simple precautionary measure while ironing silk. Iron it inside-out. You may use the protective covering of a piece of cheesecloth while ironing. If you iron too wet a piece of silk it will turn out to be quite stiff and papery, while too hot an iron causes white silk to develop a yellow tinge.
LACE AND NET CURTAINS – these are generally dry-cleaned. Should you decide to wash them, take a measurement before hand so that you can stretch them to the required length later? You should handle them just like cotton curtains with a nylon mesh or muslin bag for the delicate ones. One problem encountered with lace curtains is that their thread may break or get pulled back. Treat them softly. You can stiffen these curtains with gelatin or powdered gum Arabic to get a better finish. For getting such a finish pour an ounce of gelatin or powdered gum Arabic to a pint of cold water, and heat the mixture till the whole of powder gets dissolved. The ratio should be from eight to fifteen parts of hot water to the gelatin mixture and from five to ten parts to the gum Arabic solution. Mind you, it is this ratio which determines the degree of stiffness of your curtains. You may even treat your silks and rayon with gum Arabic solution. The gelatin mixture will deliver better results than starch for sheer cottons. You can safely use gelatin from any grocery store and the gum Arabic is available at most of the drug stores.
Bear in mind that sheer fabric curtains need to be hand washed and wouldn’t generally need ironing. A certain category of silk curtains too may be hand-washed in lukewarm water and a mild detergent.
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