How Much Care Do You Need? A Guide to Costume Care: A blog that breaks down how much care different materials need and what to use on them.
Costume Cleaning and Preservation: An overview of the museum preservation, cleaning and storage processes.
The Costume Technician’s Handbook: A book that includes a section on costume care and maintenance.
How much care do you need? A guide to costume care: A blog that breaks down how much care different materials need and what to use on them.
“I’ll never wear this again.” “I’m not going to be able to keep it clean.” “It’s a pain to take care of.” “I don’t like it when I wake up in the morning and it looks like I’ve slept in it.” These are just a few of the reasons people give for not wearing their costumes. But the truth is, many costumes are made to be worn more than once. If you know how to care for your costume, you can wear it even when you’re not actively wearing it.
To start, let’s look at some common types of costumes and their cleaning needs.
COSTUME CARE 101: The basics of caring for your costume.
Welcome to the first edition of Costume Care 101! Hopefully this is just one of many posts we will be doing on costume care, but I wanted to start off with the basics. There are a few things you need to know before you can get started caring for your costumes.
How much care do you need?
It depends on what you’re wearing. Most of the costuming I do is either historical reenactment or theatrical costuming. These both involve different fabrics and different kinds of wear and tear, so let’s look at them separately.
Historical Reenacting: You’re going to want to get some basic knowledge of what period (time period) you are going to be reenacting, how clothes were made during that time (and if you can make it yourself), what fabrics were available during that time (and if they are still being made now), and how people washed their clothes historically. I highly recommend doing some research into these topics before you start buying/making things for your kit (the term for all of the clothing/kit that you need for your impression). All periods have certain conventions about the way things are made and worn
If you just bought a costume and are wondering what to do with it, here’s some information about how much care different materials need. If you have a costume that is already worn out, read the How to Repair section at the end of the article.
How to Wash
These materials can be washed by machine or by hand. Use warm water, regular detergent, and the delicate cycle. Be careful when removing from the washer as these fabrics can easily tear from snags on buckles or zippers. Using a dryer on low heat is fine, but if your costume has boning or any other stiffening material inside, hang dry or lay flat to dry.
You can also wash these fabrics by hand in a sink using warm water and regular laundry detergent. Use your hands to agitate the suds into the fabric then rinse thoroughly in cool water. Hang dry or lay flat to dry.
The truth of the matter is that your costume care needs depend on the materials of your costume. Costume care can be separated into two broad categories: cleaning and storage.
It’s important to note that if you are in doubt about your costume, you should always reach out to a professional who will know how to safely clean and store your costume. If you aren’t sure what material your costume is made out of, take it in for a professional evaluation.
The two categories of costume care are as follows:**
If you love and use your costumes, they will get dirty. You will sweat and soil them, even if you do not think you sweat that much or don’t want to admit that you soil them. So just accept it, and when things get soiled, clean them in the way that is most appropriate for them.
Different materials have different care needs. Here is a basic guide:
Cotton/polyester blends – machine washable on cool/gentle cycle with mild detergents (Woolite is good), hang dry.
Cottons – machine washable on cool/gentle cycle with mild detergents (Woolite is good), hang dry.
Silk – handwash in cold water with very mild detergent (Orvus Quilt Soap is an excellent product used by quilters and can be found on Amazon), hang dry.
Rayon – handwash in cold water with very mild detergent (Orvus Quilt Soap is an excellent product used by quilters and can be found on Amazon), hang dry.