stupid me

[peridoxical]

I have a beautiful white silk blouse that I got on sale at Petite Sophisticate before they went out of business. I wore it not too long ago and, not thinking, threw it into the laundry basket. I only discovered my mistake after the shirt had been washed and dried. So now I have a slightly crunchy, generally unpleasant feeling pale pink silk blouse

Comments

[f1ymetothemoon]

Try soaking it for a few hours in water with a ton of lemon juice in it.

[jenny_rambles]

Hot iron. I've mistakenly washed silk before and the hot iron makes it not crunchy anymore. I'm lost on getting it white again though!

[peridoxical]

Hot as in not on the silk setting? Which setting would you recommend?

[utsi]

from what i recall from having done something similiar:
hyrdogen peroxide is what bleaches silk, not regular bleach. the strength for hair iirc. the problem is that it will further stress the fibres and they will get more 'crunchy' and harsh feeling again. you may have set the colour with teh vinegar rinse, as that is one of the ways of setting dyes.

i am an amateur, not a pro though, so someone may be able to provide more useful info than i have. something to keep in mind is that silk is a different type of fibre- i can;t recall what it was off hand, but it maes a difference in how it reacts to stuff iirc.

sorry to not be able to help better. but at least it's a start.

[peridoxical]

Crap, are you serious! I got the vinegar idea from a website. Darn internet. So if I've set the color, is it worth my time to try the hydrogen peroxide? Do you know what strength hydrogen peroxide to use, or how much to use? The only thing I can find is to bleach wool, and I think silk would use considerably less.

[inkfreak87]

I've used hydrogen peroxide to get dried blood off a comforter... It's pretty strong stuff

[lapenn]

wash the silk with normal shampoo. One of my good friends owns lots of silk stuff, and she washes it all in her normal washer but uses shampoo instead of detergent. Silk is a protein fiber similar to hair, and the shampoo will help restore the silk. I'm not sure if it will help the color at all, but it should help the blouse feel much better.

here's a little info on what kinds of shampoos to avoid (and another source that says the same, for good measure)

[kriskoekk]

I think the problem here is not so much that it went through the washer (the gentle cycle would have been fine and the regular cycle wouldn't have hurt it too much), but that it went through the dryer. The heat and stress from the dryer may have been too much for the fibers. You can try washing it again, rolling it in a towel, and laying flat to dry. But I don't know if it will ever be the same.