Natural fibers like silk are luxurious and make stunning upholstery. Silk furniture is an asset that needs regular upkeep! Furniture made of silk should be cleaned carefully and thoroughly. Owners are frequently instructed by manufacturers to hire professional dry-cleaning services to maintain their silk items. However, with a little tender loving care and attention, you may hand wash with soap and water and spot clean silk using natural cleaning agents.
How to Clean Silk Upholstery in 3 Easy Steps
STEP #1. To start, thoroughly vacuum the overall piece of furniture to get rid of any loose debris. Before you start, make sure the vacuum’s upholstery attachment is clean.
STEP #2. In general, you may clean silk upholstery by dipping a delicate cloth in a mixture of cold water and a mild laundry detergent. However, as many kinds of colored silk can fade quickly, proceed with utmost caution and make sure to test a tiny, discrete area first. The cloth should be damp but not dripping when you skim the suds from the surface of the water onto it and wring it dry thoroughly.
STEP #3. Dry the silk using a hair dryer set to cold air to avoid water stains. When in doubt, get a specialist to clean your silk furniture.
Is It Okay If Silk Gets Wet?
If the care tag from the manufacturer permits it, it should be fine to get silk wet. But there are several kinds of silk cloth, and some of them are more easily damaged by moisture. For instance, silk fabrics might bleed, shrink, soften, or even discolor when they are wet.
Therefore, if you need to thoroughly clean the silk upholstery, handle it carefully and avoid soaking it in water. The couch may shrink when wet if it also has a silk fabric that has not been pre-shrunk. Additionally, a color transfer is a possibility, and if the sofa’s fabric is unsuitable for water-based cleaning, you could need to remove water stains from it.
How Can Silk Be Made Shiny Again?
- Check the care tag on the silk fabric for any particular instructions.
- Warm water should be combined with white vinegar at a ratio of one-fourth cup per gallon of water.
- Spraying the solution on a cloth and dabbing it onto the silk will allow you to test it.
- If there isn’t any color transfer or texture alteration, continue.
- The silk coverings should be taken off and soaked in the vinegar solution.
- Lay flat above a towel after cleaning off with clean water.
- Press with a different towel on top to absorb the extra liquid
- Hang the silk to dry.
More Cleaning Tips
- Be careful not to soak the cloth too much.
- Avoid placing your silk furniture in direct sunlight or adjacent to a heater or air conditioner.
- Spills should be cleaned right away by blotting them with a strong, lifting motion. Never massage stains since doing so will cause them to set in the fabric more deeply.
- Avoid using a hair dryer on hot air to dry a spill on silk upholstery or a damp area because the heat might cause the fabric to shrink.
- Water stains can occasionally be left behind after cleaning silk upholstery and are practically hard to remove. If that happens, you might want to think about employing a dry-cleaning technique.
- While it could take some time, blotting water stains on white silk with a solution of witch hazel and hydrogen peroxide might help eliminate them. However, avoid using the technique on colored silk since it might lighten or erase the dye.
