How to Care for Clothing with Rhinestones & Crystallised Swarovski Elements
Rhinestone clothing can be very fashionable and fun to wear. It's easy for rhinestones to slip off of your clothing and cause your garment to lose some of its style and flair.
By caring for your rhinestone bedecked clothing in a gentle manner, and following a few simple steps, you can keep your rhinestone outfits looking great to wear.
Prepare Your Clothes for Washing
Step 1
Turn your garment inside out. If there are any buttons, make sure that they have been buttoned or zipped up.
Step 2
Run a sink full of lukewarm water with some light washing detergent. Try detergent that is used for washing baby clothes. Detergent that is gentle and doesn't have any bleach will work best on your piece of clothing. You can wash the item in your bathroom sink, kitchen sink, or an old washtub.
Step 3
Hand-wash your garment lightly and do not let it stay in the water for a long period of more than a couple of minutes. Do not twist or wring the embellished garment.
Step 4
Hang dry your garment on a clothes line. Do not place it in direct sunlight because your clothing will fade and the sunlight will decrease the adhesive that your rhinestone is attached to.
You can put the item in the dryer on a light spin cycle or permanent press for about 5 minutes (no more) to fluff out the fabric so it doesn't have that stiff feel from air-drying.
Do not leave it in for a long period of time. Your rhinestones could overheat and fall off or melt. Take the item out of the dryer while it is still halfway damp and let it hang dry.
Step 5
Keep your rhinestone garment in a place in your closet (wardrobe) where it won't rub against other articles of clothing.
You may place a plastic cover over your clothing to keep it safe from dust and to protect the rhinestones.
Don't fold the item and put it in a packed drawer of clothes, where the rhinestones could easily be rubbed off or break.
Keep the item separate from the rest of your clothes in order to keep it looking nice.
Summary
Never throw rhinestone embellished clothing in the washing machine. They may or may not survive. Wash them by hand in cold water mild detergent. Rinse well. Don't twist or wring the item. After washing and rinsing, place in washing machine on SPIN ONLY GENTLE cycle to remove excess water prior to hanging up to air dry. Dry cleaning is not usually recommended for rhinestone embellished clothing. Check with your local dry cleaner some items may be able to be cleaned.
IRONING
About ironing embellished clothing; NEVER LET THE IRON COME IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH STONES OR THE FABRIC AROUND THEM.
- Before ironing, you will need to use a piece of cotton fabric that you place between the iron and the garment, to stop overheating and burning the garment denoted by a shiny surface.
- Move the cotton cloth with the iron.
- Keep you iron on medium heat and do not let the fabric or the stones get to hot...It will melt the adhesive and the stone will reposition itself and leave a not fixable glue smear.
- Its best to iron the fabric as directed, but do it a section at a time. You will iron the front and before moving the fabric to iron the next area, let it sit for 5 minutes and cool down. This way you can be assured the glue if it did start to melt won't run or smear when the item is moved. If your embellishments are large do not put the iron on them even with the cotton fabric. You will have to go around them with the iron.
