My Cleaning Method

I worked at Nordstrom for a couple of years in Lingerie, probably one of the most lovely jobs I have ever had - and I learned so much while I was there. One of the things I learned was how to really LOVE your expensive "little things". Little things = lingerie, cashmere garments, and silk accessories and pieces. I used to just handwash my lingerie with soap and then drape it over my shower-curtain Carrie Bradshaw style. Cashmere and silk I would just take to the Dry-Cleaners. Have you ever had a BAD dry-cleaning incident though? Where you take your favorite sweater in and then before you know it, it was too roughly handled and it was permanently ruined? These are the risks you get for taking your clothes to someone else! So, at Nordstrom I learned about a beautiful thing. It is called Nordstrom Lingerie Wash. And I love it. It is $16 for 32 ounces. HOWEVER, it is biodegradable, phosphate-free, and hypoallergenic! The bottle size, color, and scent changes almost every year, but if I go to Nordies and they have the lavendar-scented version in stock I get like 3 bottles. It is fantastic. If you have a new-style steam washer or the new front-loading kind, then you can put them in there - not even a lot as it is ultra-concentrated... but I like to just wash my things by hand. This is what the bottle looks like:



I follow the same format - almost completely as The Laundress girls, so I am just going to copy-paste how they suggest to wash these things with my own commentary:
So I normally grab a glass of wine or club soda with lime and a magazine if I am going to be doing multiple loads just so I can be entertained...
-Pour room temperature water in a basin. I use just a freshly-cleaned bathtub as most of my clothes tend to be dry-clean only and I can get a large amount done in one afternoon.
-Add a few squirts of the Laundress Wool
and Cashmere Shampoo. I do a capful of the Nordstrom Lingerie Wash - regardless of whether it is sweaters, bras, hose, or delicate undergarments.
-Agitate the water and detergent by hand to mix. Normally for me this is just running the soap around and I can really check to make sure the water is the right temperature.
-Add sweater to water basin. Or whatever it is that you are washing. I normally sort the garments like normal washing loads, pastels, darks, mediums, whites, and hook the bra together so it keeps it shape, I normally do the hose and silks together separate from the sweaters - even if they are the same material - just to avoid fuzzies and the sort.
-Move the sweater in the water for a minute by hand. This is kind-of like your very own agitator, being your arm!
-Let it soak for at least a half hour. If I haven't washed this stuff in a while I normally let it soak for a good while - esp. brand new sweaters, to get rid of excess colors, etc. I normally do like 30 minutes for hose/thigh highs and silk tops/shells, 40 minutes for my lacy bras and lacy panties/boy shorts/thongs/tangas/etc (I did work in lingerie so I have a great number of these babies!!), an hour for my more regularly-worn bras (Le Mysteres, Chantelle, Calvin Klein, DKNY basics), and then 1+ for the other heavier-knit/gauge fabrics.
- Run room temperature water into basin to rinse out soapy water, run water until soapy water is gone. This is really important because you don't want your clothes to be half-soapy. This does get tough with the bigger pieces.
- Take soaking wet sweater out of the basin. DO NOT WRING THE SWEATER. Seriously, DO NOT WRING THE SWEATER!
- Lay towel over flat surface and place sweater completely flat on the towel. I use the most well-worn towels we have so I don't have to worry about fuzzies and colors leaching into fabrics. I also tend to just lightly shake off/drip the hose and bras/lingerie since they dry faster and you don't have to worry about shape/etc.
- Roll the sweater up in towel (like a rolling pin) to remove the water. I do this and then I immediately move it to a drying rack.



I hope you all liked hearing this input. Let me know if you think of other entries that you would like for me to write!

xo
Worthy

**This entry was inspired by this entry from the Life in the Cove blog entry, Prepdom 101: Caring for Cashmere.**