Care for vintage and hand dyed silks – Specifically kimono fabric

I am a hand dyed silk hobbyist who stumbled into deconstructing kimono and reusing the fabric after my own collection of kimonos and haori got a bit ridiculous.

First, I must commend my friends over at YokoDana for advising their clients to consider dry cleaning their kimono and to only use an independent business that does not send the garments out to a factory for cleaning. Over the years, I have had great luck with small businesses that want their clients to come back. So, if you are planning on keeping and wearing or displaying your kimono, get it dry cleaned.

There is also at least one dry cleaner in California that sends kimono to Japan for cleaning. The last time I checked, their prices start at about $130 per item, plus shipping. So, if you adore the garment, spend the money for its care.

Why is Washing a Whole Kimono Not an Option?

First, we need to look at the history of how kimonos were constructed. They were hand dyed, hand painted or hand stenciled and hand woven, on narrow looms, usually no more than 14.5 inches wide. Once decorated, the fabric was washed in a slowly moving stream to prevent any dye from adhering to somewhere it was not planned. Once washed, the fabric was stretched using bamboo rods with needles at the ends to hold the fabric taut while it dried. Once dry, the fabric was carefully sewn into a garment. But the kimono designers did not use the same materials throughout the garments. On every kimono I have disassembled, I have found silk exterior fabric, a different silk or cotton bodice lining, silk sleeve lining, a third silk lining along the bottom edge (usually about 42 cm wide), and short sections of cotton muslin reinforcing the collar and a long strip of muslin reinforcing the hem. Because each of these fabrics are different, they will all shrink at different rates. Each fabric has a unique level of colorfastness or lack thereof. In addition to the many different fabrics, I have found as many as five different types of thread in the construction – both silk, fine cotton and heavy cotton. Each of these threads will also shrink at different rates causing the garment to twist and sag. That shrinkage will ruin the kimono if it is washed as a whole garment.

Red silk, Red cotton, White cotton thread, black silk thread.

Red silk, white cotton collar stiffener, red cotton, plus white cotton thread, red and black silk thread.

In Japan, there appear to be just a few primary cleaning methods for kimono.

• Spot cleaning using dry cleaning chemicals. There is a great video by Billy Matsunaga showing how she spot cleans kimono with dry cleaning chemicals.

• Arai Hari disassembly, and then dry cleaning each type of fabric.

• Dry cleaning whole garments when they appear to be colorfast.

• Arai Hari disassembly, and then washing in the traditional method. This may be a rarer method since the invention of dry cleaning.

So, my first recommendation for you is to lay out your kimono and haori and decide which items you are willing to experiment with and which ones you cannot stand to damage. Put away the ones that you treasure and save up for that dry cleaner.