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Can you Wash 'Dry Clean Only' Clothes at Home?

Snehal Motkar
Are you tired of getting your clothes dry cleaned from outside and thinking of an alternative? Well, this article guides you to wash your 'dry clean only' labeled clothes at home, yet have the same professional dry cleaning effect. Here's the dry cleaner's secret for washing dry clean only clothes.
Imagine you are going out for a special occasion and you pull out your all time favorite dress from the wardrobe. But what do you see? The dress is too dirty to wear for a special function. Perhaps you forgot to wash it. Your frustration increases further when you look at the label sitting on the neck of your dress and saying "Dry Clean Only".
What to do in such a situation? First of all, calm down and relax yourself because there is a solution out of this problem. You can actually wash the dry clean dress at home with some precautions.
Before moving on to the methods of home dry cleaning, you must know that wool, fine silk and rayon are fabrics that are sensitive to water and detergent. Therefore, only a professional touch can clean these clothes. Other fabrics do not have such problems and can be easily washed at home with proper precautions.
There are two basic methods of dry cleaning clothes at home:
  1. Hand Wash
  2. Machine Wash

Tips to Hand Wash the "Dry Clean Only" Clothes
Step 1
To be extra safe or if you are not sure about the fabric's sensitivity towards water, take an edge of the garment and wash it in cold water with a mild detergent and let it air dry completely. If the fabric stays unaffected, for example, it does not shrink, bleed color, you can proceed with your washing.
Step 2
Look for stains on the garment and clean them with a gentle stain remover.

Step 3
Soak the garment in lukewarm water containing organic solvent or a gentle soap, a baby soap for that matter.
Step 4
Scrub the fabric evenly with extremely soft hands to remove the dirt. If you have not carried out the second step by chance, you can do it in this step. Locate the stains and rub them softly. If you rub the fabric harshly it might damage the garment permanently.
Step 5
Rinse it in clean lukewarm water for final dirt removal again taking care of the delicate areas.

Step 6
Rinse it in cold water consisting a cup of vinegar to remove the detergent/ soap and retain the shine of the fabric. Try to remove maximum water content from the fabric.
Step 7
Spread the garment on a clean towel and roll it. Squeeze it to remove excess water. You can also wrap the garment in a plastic bag and keep the bag in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

Step 8
Take out the bag and remove the garment from it (assuming that you have used the method of refrigeration). Heat an iron to a very low heat and press the garment to fasten the drying process and also to remove creases. Never iron the fabric from outside, turn it inside out while ironing to avoid damages. You can also use a hair dryer.

Tips to Machine Wash the "Dry Clean Only" Clothes
For this method you will need a dry cleaning kit like dryel and a dryer. Dryel is available at stores that carry laundry products. Since you are using the kit there are no steps as such, it already has everything in it to clean your garment.
  • Read the label on the package for instructions while using dryel.
  • Use the dryer to apply dryel.
  • Make sure that you air dry the garment after dry cleaning to avoid shrinkage.
With these easy steps, you won't have to keep running to the dry cleaner for washing your adorable clothes and worry for their safety. You can wash them at home using dry cleaning products available in the market, which will also save a lot of money in the bargain.