How To Clean A Silk Clutch Bag

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how to clean a stained evening bag?

Thread starter parrot tulips
Start date Apr 18, 2009

Status: Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.

Joined: Feb 13, 2007

Messages: 642

I would LOVE to use my mother''s evening bag from her wedding as my something old and something borrowed...it''s got some beading & sequins, with a metal clasp. However, the satin on the bag has some yellowish-brown stains on it. One dry cleaner said they wouldn''t clean it because they were afraid of the clasp rusting. Does anyone have advice for cleaning it, or should I simply try another dry cleaner? Thanks!

Joined: Jul 28, 2007

Messages: 4,458

I would try another dry cleaner, if they are careful enough with the drycleaning fluid, it shouldn''t actually touch the clasp I would say. You never know. I assume you can''t use it now, so why not take the chance, you may end up with a beautifully clean bag.

Joined: Apr 6, 2006

Messages: 5,665

What is the fabric? Is it satin? I''d love to see a photo of it and the stains. I wonder if the dry cleaners is worried about the beading more than the clasp. Why would a clasp rust unless it was left wet?

Joined: May 14, 2006

Messages: 12,169

I''d definitely go to another one to see could they do it. The bag sounds gorgeous. Let me know what they say as I have a satin clutch bag and it has a stain and I thought it was doomed forever.

Joined: Mar 24, 2007

Messages: 1,769

If you don''t have any luck finding a dry cleaner place willing to try, you could maybe try getting one of those Dryel dry cleaning at home kits. I wouldn''t put the handbag in the dryer necessarily, but the starter kits come with some dry-cleaning stain solution and absorbent pads to suck up the stain. They''ve done pretty well on some of my things and might be a good last ditch effort to save the bag. Good luck!

Joined: Oct 11, 2008

Messages: 1,878

If you do an at-home wash, be careful of dryers...

I was on a drill team with my marching band in HS, and had to wear a sequin jacket... They told us time and time and time again: DO NOT PUT SEQUINS IN THE DRYER... I don''t know why, exactly, but it was a big no-no.

Satin probably SHOULD be dry-cleaned, but I bet you could also use some gentle soap and room-temp water (isn''t club soda good for stains, too?) and gently wash the satin parts, then pat with a towel and let it air dry... I think if you washed all of the satin evenly it wouldn''t leave water-marks on the bag.

Joined: Nov 4, 2007

Messages: 3,336

I doubt very much you'll find a dry cleaner willing to take on that project. They get fussed about fancy buttons, let along a vintage evening bag with sequins! Too much of a risk for them to take. Usually for buttons and catches, they remove them from articles being dry cleaned to prevent damage. Sounds like your bag is encrusted with beading so there is no way they would remove it.

That being said, they would likely "wash" it anyways. Does it turn inside out? Can you post of picture of it?

May I suggest how I would approach this? I have no fear of handwashing, but you have to be careful with this type of thing. I doubt just spotcleaning the surface will do the trick. So you'll have to take a deep breath and give it a shot...

Get a gentle soap like Woolite and just tepid water. Too hot water may cause problems if there is glue anywhere in the beading.

If you have one of those mesh bags for pantyhose, put it in there for protection. Swish it around, maybe leave it in the water for 15 minutes to give it a good soak. EXCEPT if it feels like there's cardboard in the flap of the bag, don't leave it in the water as it will disintegrate.

Then rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse.

The hardest part will be to iron the satin after it's washed. Without a pic I can't advise you, but don't wring it dry. Just shake the water out of it as best you can, and lay it flat on a towel. You can probably roll it gently in the towel, but be careful to not wrinkle the satin.

Then IF you can, take an iron to the satin part. That may not be possible, but maybe one of those clothing steamers could do it.

It might not be perfect but it would be such a testimony to your mother to carry that on your wedding day!!

ETA: re rust on the clasp: that is a very real possibility. If it rusts (it might be rusted underneath already if it's old) the colour would bleed onto the fabric. You could coat it with a light application of clear nail polish to prevent that happening. Just be careful to not get any onto the satin.

Joined: Feb 13, 2007

Messages: 642

Thanks for the advice ladies. Here''s a picture of the bag. I don''t remember seeing the stains as a child, so I''m not sure if it has something to do with aging...? I can try another dry cleaner before trying something on my own...

Joined: Apr 6, 2006

Messages: 5,665

I would be surprised if a dry cleaner would take it on and use chemicals on it. They might be willing to hand wash it in Woolite. Find out what method they are going to use. Their dry cleaning chemicals could dissolve the beads. If it were me, I''d try to hand wash in cool Woolite.

If it is silk it should take well to hand washing.

It''s a beautiful purse and would be so nice to use on your wedding day.

Joined: Nov 4, 2007

Messages: 3,336

Thanks for the pic, ParrotTulips

It's really lovely. And might turn out better than I thought, as I was expecting large sections of satin with no embellishment.

I'd wash it like I posted above. The stains may just be the fabric aging, or, it might be oils from her hand that got into the satin. Might come out, might not. If if were my Mom's, I'd give it a go myself before trusting it with some stranger at the dry cleaners...but that's just me!

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