In life, you’ll have your constants. Breathing, eating, dessert, and doing laundry. No matter how you feel about the chore, it is one that always needs to be done.
As custom embroidered clothing is our favorite topic, we thought it would be helpful to know how to safely wash and dry them.
Don’t be worried though, it's a simple process and after reading this article, you’ll be a professional in no time.
Safe Detergent for Embroidered Clothes
First, you will want to wash all embroidered clothing with a mild laundry detergent. What is a “mild detergent” you might ask?
A mild detergent contains only surface-active ingredients used to easily dissolve dirt and grease. It will help protect the color and life of the shirt.
Some examples are Woolite, Seventh Generation, Tide, All, and Purex. We would also recommend not using chlorine bleach and brightening detergents as they could be harmful to the colors.
To Hand Wash or Machine Wash?
Next, we want to ensure you know that hand washing your embroidered clothing is much better for the item's longevity. It is a gentler way of washing the stitching and what’s around it.
If you must machine wash your items, it would be best to wash them alone or with items that do not include zippers or other things that could snag the stitching, as seen below.
When machine washing, make sure that the cycle is set to delicate wash and that the water used is set to cold water as hot water could make the colors bleed. Bleeding colors could result in your design being ruined.
Ways to Dry Embroidered Clothes
Once the wash cycle is finished, you want to immediately remove the clothes from the washer. This will help reduce the opportunity for your embroidery to curl and distort.
As we said with machine washing your clothes, it is highly recommended not to machine dry your items as it could ultimately ruin your embroidery.
The best way to dry your custom embroidered clothing is by hanging them up to dry. Do not wring them out and do not rub stained embroidery.
If you must use your machine to dry your clothes we recommend using a normal setting and not drying with clothing that can include zippers and other items that could snag your design.
Leaving your embroidery wet for extended amounts of time could result in the ruining of your clothing.
Ready to Use this Knowledge?
Now that we have a clear understanding of the do’s and don'ts of washing embroidery, let 1StitchAtaTimeShop help you create a design you love. Press the Start Designing button to send us your idea.
Also, take a look at our past blog posts to see what else we’ve worked on and get some inspiration. We can’t wait to hear from you.