kittenteethvintage
VFG Member
Does anyone know if you can clean a lurex garment with Oxiclean? Wondering if it is safe or if I'm going to destroy my dress. Help!
Lurex
- Thread starter kittenteethvintage
- Start date
bycinbyhand
VFG Member
I've had bad luck washing lurex at home. I'd take it to the skilled dry cleaner.
I feel like it would react to the metal and agree with Cin that a dry cleaner might be your best bet!
vivavintageclothing
VFG Member
Lurex is a base fabric with shiny fibers woven into it. Those “metallic” fibers are made of lightweight plastic layered over the metallic fiber. The FIT website describes it as “invented in 1946. It is a yarn made from a thin strip of aluminum sandwiched between two plastic films. Lurex is lighter weight than lamé, does not tarnish”.
Or is your fabric woven with actual metal threads?
If they are indeed metal coated with plastic, my husband, (who works for a chemical company that makes detergents and spotting products for professional dry cleaners and laundries) says it should be ok to carefully use hydrogen peroxide (Oxyclean). However: don't rub or scrub the delicate plastic-coated fibers, don’t let it sit and soak for long, and always best to test in an inconspicuous area, first.
***Of course, this is depending on how the base itself fabric reacts to water versus dry-cleaning, as well as to the hydrogen peroxide.***
Personally, I usually dry-clean lurex for fear of shrinking, since the 2 fibers woven together might behave differently when wet.
Sorry for the complicated answer!
Or is your fabric woven with actual metal threads?
If they are indeed metal coated with plastic, my husband, (who works for a chemical company that makes detergents and spotting products for professional dry cleaners and laundries) says it should be ok to carefully use hydrogen peroxide (Oxyclean). However: don't rub or scrub the delicate plastic-coated fibers, don’t let it sit and soak for long, and always best to test in an inconspicuous area, first.
***Of course, this is depending on how the base itself fabric reacts to water versus dry-cleaning, as well as to the hydrogen peroxide.***
Personally, I usually dry-clean lurex for fear of shrinking, since the 2 fibers woven together might behave differently when wet.
Sorry for the complicated answer!
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bycinbyhand
VFG Member
More specifically, when I've hand washed the garments with metallic in the weave, it discolors. There's kind of a rust from the contact with water so there will be a rusty ombre discoloration. It's happened more times than I need to experiment further lol so I dry clean those garments now.
kittenteethvintage
VFG Member
Interesting! I honestly can't tell if the shiny bits are metal coated w plastic or just plastic. It seems tinsel-y to me. I always assumed this material was Lurex.
I wound up handwashing yesterday with just mild detergent and while the dress us shinier and clean, the stain did not lift. :(
Here's a close up pic of fabric.
What does the stain look like?
kittenteethvintage
VFG Member
It's like a pale brown stain from I'm thinking some kind of liquid, looks like it splashed and soaked quickly? It was hard to get a clear pic but this is the best I could get it to show up in a photo.
So hard to say what that could be, and risky to try more drastic methods of cleaning. That said, a brownish stain down the front of a dress could be a coffee, tea, wine, champagne (which turns brown over time) stain. You could try a soak with dissolved oxygen bleach and detergent in cool water. Or try using detergent and hydrogen peroxide 3% in equal parts for a soak.