Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Sunday, July 31, 2022

What do you dry clean? What do you have tailored?

 

Dear Muffy,  

I am counting the minutes to Autumn here.  It can't come fast enough. 

I go downtown for my dry cleaning and tailoring.  I have noticed that my dry cleaning amount has been going down, and slowly, my tailoring jobs have been going up.  This got me thinking of a question.  Well, two questions really.   What do readers still dry clean, and what do readers get tailored?  Have a wonderful rest of the summer, Muffy!


21 comments:

  1. Since clothing makers dont know how to use a tape measure I always have to have my pants and jeans shortened. Every pair of pants I buy that are labeled with a 32 inch length actually have a 34 inch length or longer. I buy them online so I dont get to try them on first. And every oxford shirt I buy has to have the sleeves shortened.

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  2. Most coats and jackets are not made to my personal specifications, alas. We end up having ours tailored with inside pockets. Velcro is usually used to fasten close the opening.

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  3. For me, suits, blazers/sports jackets, and odd pants have minor alterations at the tailor. The same items get dry-cleaned occasionally. I have always been pretty easy on clothing and shoes though, so maybe once or twice a year. I launder and press dress shirts myself at home.

    Kind Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich

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  4. I dry-clean wool and cashmere. With tailoring, I'm in the same situation with trousers as the first commenter above. My suits and sport jackets require some tapering in the body, as my chest-to-waist ratio means that anything not made to measure is baggy through the hips.

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  5. Dry cleaning is not particularly environmentally friendly, so I tend to use it as little is possible. Wool/cashmere sweaters are spot cleaned and aired as necessary, and often given one gentle hand wash at the end of the season. Coats, jackets, etc. are likewise spot cleaned and aired. Silk blouses/dresses are hand washed using gentle detergent.

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  6. Suits -- both tailored and dry-cleaned. Sports coats and wool slacks that I ware with them -- ditto. That's about it these days.

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  7. Tailoring for me: pants/skirts/shorts - anything with a waist. It seems women's bottoms are tailored at the waist to fit Sponge Bob, and I end up with this ridiculous gap. My husband has suits tailored. Our dry cleaning includes dressy dresses, blazers, suits, silk, cashmere, woolen outer-wear. I hand wash all of our linen. --Holly in PA

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  8. I dry clean suits, blazers, tailored wool trousers. Working remotely has substantially reduced the amount of dry cleaning. I also get the same articles of clothing tailored. After purchase, the only additional tailoring I have done the past several years was to take some jackets and trousers in because I dropped some weight.

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  9. Even though I'm retired I still launder my dress shirts, which is all I wear. I like the look of a pressed shirt, many of the non-iron still look slumpy after home laundering.

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  10. It’s easy to iron a shirt at home. Takes about 87 seconds. Ignore the sleeves yet still pressi the front, collar, and cuffs.

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    1. I remember my friend's future husband ignoring the sleeves. He has been invited to meet her parents, his future in-laws, it became very warm and he didn't want to take off his jacket because of his ironing trick with ignoring sleeves...LOL. Even with pressing sleeves it's pretty easy, I use my own sprawy based on sea-water and lavender essential oil to keep it fresh and more crispy, however not on dark clothes, salinity is too high and it leaves white stripes.

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    2. Your post made me giggle. I worked in the retail industry for many years. I remember one February day deciding not to iron the back of my blouse as I was pressed for time. No pun intended. Well, let’s just say that was a mistake, as it was unseasonably warm. The store became very hot. One of my fellow executives suggested that I remove my suit jacket. When I explained that the back of my blouse and sleeves were not pressed and that I felt that would be unbecoming of a retail executive, we broke out in a fit of laughter. Moral to the story, always take the time to have your clothing pressed and properly tailored.

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  11. I get a lot of things tailored just to get the perfect fit! Exceptions are a few jackets I have from Ann Mashburn and dresses from Molly Moorkamp--they both have very exacting measurements for their sizing and actually fit the sizes they are supposed to! I get jackets dry cleaned, and black tie things, otherwise almost everything is washed or handwashed. I love the Laundress's wool & cashmere shampoo for my vast collection of sweaters!

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  12. I dry clean cashmere, blazers/jackets, anything with a 'dry clean only' label. If a label simply says 'dry clean,' I will hand wash and line dry the item instead. Tailoring-wise, I most frequently have shift dresses, trousers and button downs tweaked for the best fit.

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  13. I brush suits and odd jackets regularly so that dry cleanings are few and far between. All other clothes are washed, dried, and, as appropriate, ironed at home. I even wash and dry oriental rugs on the deck.

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  14. I would love to know how to iron a shirt in “87 seconds!” I iron my shirts and each one takes about 5 minutes. I used to iron my shirts while watching Alex Trebec conduct “Jeopardy.”

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    1. You ought not linger with an iron. Start with the back of the collar, and the front flattens simultaneously. Count one Mississippi two Mississippi etc.. Do next the placket and the pocket side of the front. Then do the button side. Don’t linger. It’s like they say when painting, “don’t play with the paint.” Do the cuffs. You’re finished. Not even 87 seconds.

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  15. Be careful washing and drying your Oriental carpets on your outside deck! The sun can bleach the colors irrevocably.

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  16. Hubby has two suits that are dry clean only that periodically need a trip to the dry cleaners. I have a couple Irish sweaters that say "Dry Clean Only". We don't have much that needs tailoring and I sew and handle most of what comes along.

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  17. Since surviving stage 4 lymphoma, I'm hyper-aware of chemicals. I no longer dry clean anything and I'm a frugal Yankee and don't mind ironing or I'll just line-dry in the salt air then touch up with the iron if needed. I am at a loss as to what to do with the Hudson BP blankets.

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  18. Proper clothing needs proper care, at the hands of someone you trust!

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