The faded white marks on the silk shirt are wear mark where the silk has started to break down. What happens is the silk starts to unravel and what you are seeing is the broken silk reflecting light back at you. This happens with all silk over time but it is usually uniform, it is more pronounced on any areas that have been worked on or rubbed.
This can quite often be hidden by asking your drycleaner to soak the blouse in mineral oil mixed with perc overnight and then drying the garment in the drycleaning machine without flushing it with pure solvent. The mineral oil will flatten the silk and give it back that brand new shine. However this process must be repeated anytime the shirt is cleaned as regular solvent will pull the oil out of the garment.
January 6th, 2010 at 7:49 am
I would take it back to the cleaners
References :
January 18th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Katherine,
The faded white marks on the silk shirt are wear mark where the silk has started to break down. What happens is the silk starts to unravel and what you are seeing is the broken silk reflecting light back at you. This happens with all silk over time but it is usually uniform, it is more pronounced on any areas that have been worked on or rubbed.
This can quite often be hidden by asking your drycleaner to soak the blouse in mineral oil mixed with perc overnight and then drying the garment in the drycleaning machine without flushing it with pure solvent. The mineral oil will flatten the silk and give it back that brand new shine. However this process must be repeated anytime the shirt is cleaned as regular solvent will pull the oil out of the garment.
Good Luck
Paddy
PS – I am a certified master drycleaner.