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Post by zoisite on Jun 26, 2004 22:53:28 GMT -5
*sigh* This was very very stupid, but I'm hoping someone can help me... I was wearing one of my kimono out on a very hot day, and unfortunately I got some major sweat stains on the under-sleeve areas (the nagajuban and undergarments as well, but those aren't visible so it's not as big an issue). After letting the kimono dry for a day, the marks were still quite visible. I tried to wash out the sweat, thinking that water would be fine on the kimono as I've occasionally gotten small splashes on it during tea ceremony practice that didn't leave any water marks. Unfortunately I thought wrong, and I've now got water marks that look even worse than the sweat stains did! Also, the seams got distorted a bit when the kimono was drying, so it's going to need to be pressed/ironed to get back into proper shape. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this??? Would a professional drycleaner be able to do anything to fix the watermarks? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Ume
New Member
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Post by Ume on Jun 27, 2004 2:42:40 GMT -5
Hello Zoisite,
How sad, his happened to your kimono!
To be honest I do not really know what to do. But I would be scared to have the kimono dry cleaned because then water drops would show in the future (for the tea ceremony you mentioned)
The best way would probably be to take the kimono apart. I hope you where wearing hitoe because of the month, then it is not that hard to take apart the kimono and re-sew.
You can wash the kimono parts let them dry, stretch them (iron with a low setting) and re-sew. It's possible with lined too, but it will take you longer.
It is a tricky thing to do, a bit scary, but it could work, since it's the traditional way of cleaning. If there is (gold) embroidery and or gold leaving on the kimono, I do not think you can wash it.
I hope this might help you a bit, you could always go to a dry cleaner, look for one that is recommended by people you trust; and often bridal stores (that sell only silk dresses) or designers that use a lot of silk or stores that sell silk fabric would be able to recommend you one.
Good luck!
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Post by zoisite on Jun 28, 2004 15:31:02 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice, Ume! Unfortunately it is a lined kimono -- this happened a while ago, just before the changeover from lined to unlined (hence why the weather was so hot >_<). I haven't done anything with the kimono since then. I just found this message board a few days ago, so decided to see if anyone had had a similar problem.
Unfortunately I'm what you might call "sewing challenged"... I can barely sew an eri onto a nagajuban, so there's no way I would trust myself with taking apart a kimono. I will ask around and see if I can find a drycleaner in my area with silk experience... I can live with the watermarks I suppose, but what really bothers me is how the silk went all stiff and crinkly when it dried. I'm hoping that ironing would bring back the softness of the rest of the material, but I have no experience with this and don't want to do any more experimenting! o_0 There is no metallic threading or gold leaf, so it would probably be OK for ironing.
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Ume
New Member
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Post by Ume on Jul 1, 2004 11:16:19 GMT -5
Oh that is too bad, about the sewing. Just as well, sewing a lined kimono is quite a challenge...
I hope you will find a good dry cleaner.
It is ok to iron kimono, just use low heat and a little steam (makes the silk softer) I always put a clean soft white cloth between the kimono and the iron; otherwise you will get "shine". There are people that say you can iron with a hot iron because silk is strong, that is true. You can iron hot and silk is strong, but heat will damage all fabric in the long run... so I would not do that. I really hope your kimono will get nice, soft and shiny again!
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