Klädvård Efter Event

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Du har varit på Medeltidsveckan eller ett annat längre event, eller kanske är det slut på säsongen. Förhoppningsvis har du haft det fantastiskt. Dags för den mindre roliga uppgiften att rengöra och lägga undan dina medeltidskläder. Rengöring är viktigt för att undvika att smuts fräter på tyget och gör det skört, och för yllekläder är det ett preventivt sätt för att hålla skadedjur borta. Så hur ska du göra?

Vad har du för rutiner på klädvård efter event? Har du några bra knep för fläckborttagning eller andra bra tips?

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Caring for Clothes After an Event

You’ve been to a longish event, or maybe the living history/re-enactment season is over. Hopefully you’ve had a fabulous time.

But now it’s time for the less inspirational task of cleaning and putting away your medieval clothing. Cleaning is important to prevent dirt from weakening the fabric, and for wool clothing it’s a way to keep vermin away. So how should you do it?

To start with, it’s good to take a good look at your clothing – do they need mending? Better to do it now, before laundry will make any holes larger.

Linen Clothing

Undyed linen garments are preferably soaked for a few hours before washing, to loosen potential stains and give them a better chance to be removed. After soaking, toss them in the washing machine, no warmer than 60 degrees Celsius. Avoid centrifugation if possible. Do not tumble dry! Let them hang dry, preferably outside, so the sun can bleach them a bit.

Sweat stains can be removed with bile soap in the soaking water or if you like in the washing machine.

If you’ve got yellow-brown-pinkish stains from sunscreen (woe!) it’s a bit trickier, they are stubborn. Here are two toddler’s shirts with big splotchy sunscreen stains, a common fate for shirts, shifts, veils and wimples.

Unlike normal sweat stains they are not even medieval. Ordinary washing powder didn’t work on these and neither did bile soap. Here’s a method that might be worth a try.

For a toddler shirt, or a set of wimple and veil

300 ml moderately warm water (not above 60 degrees Celsius)

2 table spoons citric acid

1 table spoon FAIRY washing up liquid or similar

Have you tried this method – did it work? Let me know!

Wool Clothing

Wool clothes rarely need washing – after normal use it’s enough to give them a good airing outside for a few hours or a day, preferably in damp weather but not in actual rain.

If the hem is muddy let it dry thoroughly, and you can then break of the mud and brush it off. Water will on the other hand only make things worse.

The odd stain can be washed carefully so the garment isn’t accidentally felted in the process. Greasy stains can be removed with mild wool detergent.

If your clothes are very dirty a gentle wash in the sink or tub is an alternative. Wash with pure water or wool detergent. Use tepid water and gently swish the garment around. Don’t rub it, as that may lead to felting, and don’t lift the soaked fabric out of the water, as that might lead to stretching. Change the wash water at need. Gently squeeze out as much water as you can, don’t wring it. Lift the clothing, gathered up into a loose ball so as to avoid stretching, especially important on dresses that will be very heavy when wet. Let the garment dry lying as flat as possible over several washing lines. You can roll up the garment in towels first to get as much water as possible out before drying.

Store the completely dry wool clothes in air-tight plastic bins or plastic vacuum bags to keep pests out. If you can’t or won’t do that, hang your clothes airily, in a place where you will disturb them often, that will lessen the risk of pests.

What routines for caring for clothing after events do you have? Any good tricks for stain removal or other tips?

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