Treating your window curtains and draperies needs a careful process. As window curtains serve towards protection of your home furnishings, privacy and comfort, it needs very ideal care.
In case of cleaning and treating your curtains, you must be well-informed about the material and construction of clothing before the cleaning process. Beware of sunlight effecting the color patterns and strength of material.
Light colors are more immune to sunlight than the darker ones. Acrylic and polyester stand up to sunlight better than other textile fibers and will maintain color over time. Drapes are more complex structures, made of heavy fabrics, usually extended to the floor, lined, and pleated. Meanwhile, curtains are commonly made up of light weight fabric, are simple structured and easily operable.
Monthly vacuuming is advisable, preferably with a handheld vacuum set in low mode and soft brush attachment. Trims, buttons and embellishments should be checked before vacuuming.
Washing is another area where you have to be extra careful with draperies. Check whether they are labeled washable, the drapery and lining are made of different fibers (one of them may shrink incongruously), sunlight weakened fabric, fabrics constructed with pleats (which may lose its form on washing), or containing trims and embellishments that are not washable or colorfast. Be sure that you are using cold water and mild detergent for soft washing your draperies. Use tumble drying or line drying as appropriate.
Don’t machine wash or dry clean fiber glass draperies. Hand wash them with care using a rubber glove, in a laundry tub with out any cringing, and dry it without any line-dry folding over the clothesline.
Curtains can also be washed with almost the same caution as draperies, but they tend to be more flexible. If your curtains are marked washable, remove hooks, rings, and hardware. Ensure trims are tightly attached and wash per the instructions. Normally curtains can be machine washed on a gentle cycle and tumble dried easily. You can iron the reverse side if necessary and spray lightly with water if seams are puckered.
While lace curtains are easily machine or dry washable with mild cleaning agents, and dip it in starch solution for an extra body look. Also you can re-hang while it is a little damp without starch for a soft-look. But you must temporarily cover the metal hooks with tissue paper for preventing it from rusting with fabric. Sheer fabric curtains can be cleaned in the same way as lace curtains, but be cautious about organdy sheers which should be dry cleaned.
