Your beautiful expensive clothes ,with all those natural fibers like SILK or Cotton require lot of love and even more care than babies.
Expensive luxury wear is a LOT of work especially if you have never done it, or have neatness, labour gene missing from your life !That's one reason certain things i never buy - but then its me. I don't have time or energy to take care of SILK or even branded zari or gota but then for some occaions you go and buy expensive stuff and then bang your head against the wall if it gets destroyed or fades during washing !
I have few branded stuff which i love that i want to wear preferably till it starts to fall off :P. So i take care of those few things and have learnt taking care of clothes - all kinds of them along the way. I loved wearing clothes but when i was growing up i was a fool [ just like you] and IGNORED what my mom kept saying about clothes.
Then i started embroidering my ridas[ a kind of burqa] and Mom stitched them...it started because i used to not get adequate cloth in ready to stitch ridas for my height.My height has caused me a lot of woes ! So ,when anybody praises my height [ and not me] i roll my eyes and just laugh a sarcastic laugh !
Anyway ,here's some unsolicited advice for taking care of your expensive, very expensive and hard earned clothes especially things like silk sarees and salwar kurtas. Why ???
Because my heart literally bleeds when you lose your coveted branded apparel just because of your stupidity,ignorance and laziness.
1. Don't buy real silk expensive sarees if you work 10 or more hours daily at your job,travel through public transport and have no MIL/mother at home to help you. And especially if you have children ! Luxury ,branded attire and silk requires regular attention and care.And even after all the care, one slip up is enough to mess up your silk saree/kurta.
2. Buy if you have good full time help,a nanny for kids when you go out, a proper cool aerated wardrobe/closet where you can hang your clothes or fold and keep them.And if you wear your silk saree/kurtas frequently and often.
3. Buying costly branded apparel means - HANDWASHING !. One item at a time without soaking or using harsh detergents.
4. That's where semi automatic washing machine comes in! It is the gentlest way to wash any clothes however for sarees etc any kind i recommend a bucket with either reetha water or something like Surf Excel Liquid.
5. Dry clean your pure silk sarees - preferably just before you want to wear them so it means no last minute yanking off the pile and wearing it but a lot of planning and trips to your dry cleaner.
6. I don't buy clothes which require dry cleaning- since i make my own kurtas and simple cotton clothes. I buy materials like cotton, khadi etc and soak them for the first time in salt water for half and hour and wash them either in clear shampoo /reetha/ or a bathing soap. Yep, i use bathing soap for first time wash.
But if you buy off the rack dry cleaning may be the only option for you especially if you buy organza,tissue, silk based kurtas.
7. Handwashing delicate and new clothes is a pain. One has to squat in the bathroom fill 2 buckets with water . Wet the clothes and gently apply whatever soap you are using to stains and then to hemlines ,collar etc.Remember the work required when you buy clothes. Will your maid wash like this ? No !
8.Even when you use semi automatic washing machine don't spin dry more than a 2 minutes for most clothes except towels and bedsheets. Our indian summers and sunlight is great for drying clothes. Especially if you time your laundry post 3pm drying and early evenings.No damage from sun .
It goes without saying treating stains the moment you reach home increases the life of your clothes.Cotton and synthetic are great that way so it lessens your laundry.Yep , the same way removing makeup before you go to sleep is most important.
If you don't want to handwash just dry clean all your costly pieces and sarees. Or do like me- if you are a regular working gal who requires maintenance free clothes buy most of only that.
I like cottons and don't really bother with wrinkles and the rugged and simple look cotton gives.I wear khadi too a lot actually especially things like salwar,kurtas ,pyjamas and sundry. i don't know if its 100% cotton but the cloth i buy from khadi bhandar gets only softer and softer like mulmul after every wash. Don't ask me why ! I have bought cloths of all kind from Gandhi bhandar from 2 different cities and all the kurtas are strong ,with non fading color and no color running. Cotton is not cheap especially 100% cotton.Mangalgiri, kalamkari,bandhani and jaipuri cotton suits if you can get hold of original stuff is great stuff.Terycot[ blended cotton] comes in various qualities...so yeah i have take care of my cotton clothes too.
All in all dressing up is a lot of work !
Expensive luxury wear is a LOT of work especially if you have never done it, or have neatness, labour gene missing from your life !That's one reason certain things i never buy - but then its me. I don't have time or energy to take care of SILK or even branded zari or gota but then for some occaions you go and buy expensive stuff and then bang your head against the wall if it gets destroyed or fades during washing !
I have few branded stuff which i love that i want to wear preferably till it starts to fall off :P. So i take care of those few things and have learnt taking care of clothes - all kinds of them along the way. I loved wearing clothes but when i was growing up i was a fool [ just like you] and IGNORED what my mom kept saying about clothes.
Then i started embroidering my ridas[ a kind of burqa] and Mom stitched them...it started because i used to not get adequate cloth in ready to stitch ridas for my height.My height has caused me a lot of woes ! So ,when anybody praises my height [ and not me] i roll my eyes and just laugh a sarcastic laugh !
Anyway ,here's some unsolicited advice for taking care of your expensive, very expensive and hard earned clothes especially things like silk sarees and salwar kurtas. Why ???
Because my heart literally bleeds when you lose your coveted branded apparel just because of your stupidity,ignorance and laziness.
1. Don't buy real silk expensive sarees if you work 10 or more hours daily at your job,travel through public transport and have no MIL/mother at home to help you. And especially if you have children ! Luxury ,branded attire and silk requires regular attention and care.And even after all the care, one slip up is enough to mess up your silk saree/kurta.
2. Buy if you have good full time help,a nanny for kids when you go out, a proper cool aerated wardrobe/closet where you can hang your clothes or fold and keep them.And if you wear your silk saree/kurtas frequently and often.
3. Buying costly branded apparel means - HANDWASHING !. One item at a time without soaking or using harsh detergents.
4. That's where semi automatic washing machine comes in! It is the gentlest way to wash any clothes however for sarees etc any kind i recommend a bucket with either reetha water or something like Surf Excel Liquid.
5. Dry clean your pure silk sarees - preferably just before you want to wear them so it means no last minute yanking off the pile and wearing it but a lot of planning and trips to your dry cleaner.
6. I don't buy clothes which require dry cleaning- since i make my own kurtas and simple cotton clothes. I buy materials like cotton, khadi etc and soak them for the first time in salt water for half and hour and wash them either in clear shampoo /reetha/ or a bathing soap. Yep, i use bathing soap for first time wash.
But if you buy off the rack dry cleaning may be the only option for you especially if you buy organza,tissue, silk based kurtas.
7. Handwashing delicate and new clothes is a pain. One has to squat in the bathroom fill 2 buckets with water . Wet the clothes and gently apply whatever soap you are using to stains and then to hemlines ,collar etc.Remember the work required when you buy clothes. Will your maid wash like this ? No !
8.Even when you use semi automatic washing machine don't spin dry more than a 2 minutes for most clothes except towels and bedsheets. Our indian summers and sunlight is great for drying clothes. Especially if you time your laundry post 3pm drying and early evenings.No damage from sun .
It goes without saying treating stains the moment you reach home increases the life of your clothes.Cotton and synthetic are great that way so it lessens your laundry.Yep , the same way removing makeup before you go to sleep is most important.
If you don't want to handwash just dry clean all your costly pieces and sarees. Or do like me- if you are a regular working gal who requires maintenance free clothes buy most of only that.
I like cottons and don't really bother with wrinkles and the rugged and simple look cotton gives.I wear khadi too a lot actually especially things like salwar,kurtas ,pyjamas and sundry. i don't know if its 100% cotton but the cloth i buy from khadi bhandar gets only softer and softer like mulmul after every wash. Don't ask me why ! I have bought cloths of all kind from Gandhi bhandar from 2 different cities and all the kurtas are strong ,with non fading color and no color running. Cotton is not cheap especially 100% cotton.Mangalgiri, kalamkari,bandhani and jaipuri cotton suits if you can get hold of original stuff is great stuff.Terycot[ blended cotton] comes in various qualities...so yeah i have take care of my cotton clothes too.
All in all dressing up is a lot of work !
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