cleaning silk knit Bessi dress

Joan Berglund

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I just picked up a silk knit 70s Averado Bessi dress. It has a few spots and some overall dinginess, especially on the collar. It is marked dry clean, but I was wondering if hand washing was possible and what to use. I am not convinced that dry cleaning will get the spots out.
 

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Hi Jonathan, thanks for letting me know. I didn't realize Puccis were notorious bleeders either, I haven't had one for a few years. Will dry cleaning help the overall dirtiness? I don't hold out a lot of hope for the spots, but maybe they will lighten a little.
 
To be perfectly honest, I use dry cleaners for deodorizing - I never hold much hope for actual cleaning. That's because whatever medium the stain was in is what you need to remove it, so water based stains need water to remove the stain. Modern dry cleaning fluid really isn't much of a slvent for anything…

With something like this I start with a brush attachment to my vacuum and see what happens - you would be surprised what might happen. Then I graduate to a damp cloth that is wrung free of nearly all moisture, leaving just enough to remove surface dirt but not enough to actually soak the dress - again you would be surprised what the results are. Then dry cleaning.
 
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