A question on WOOL care.
 

A question on WOOL care.

Hello, hello, I have an interesting question for you all, how do you take care of your ww2 wool outfit, with respect to washing it?

Since it is wool is it something that would be ok to be machine washed? Or would it be better dry cleaned? One of the problems I have been thinking about when getting it dry cleaned is the ‘not socially acceptable’ markings that are present on it, how would you go about getting it dry cleaned?

A slight thing as well is shrinking… I am not sure if my outfit is pre shrunk or not.

Any thoughts on this is appreciated.

For wrinkles and such...
I just leave my dress uniform in the bathroom, hung up, and have a REALLY hot shower...

DO not Machinewash Wool, or machine dry it! It will shrink 2,3 sizes and will have feathers one it.

The best bet is to dry clean it if its really dirty.

You can hand wash.. in cool water and dry flat ..

So The options are to:
1. hand wash in cold water and let dry.
2. get dry cleaned
I figured dry cleaning was an option, but it just brings me back to my concern with that…
… What about the GERMAN markings on it? Should I just remove them, and sew it back on after, or do you think most places would just ‘tolerate’ it and do a GOOD job?

Cold hand wash, smooth everything out and hang up to dry. Only put a warm iron on them to get out any wrinkles.

Cheers,

Yorkie.

Theres no Law against sociably unacceptable Markings if your dry cleaner has a problem then find another. When you start buckling to certain pressure groups then slowly one by one these rights are taken away. We Recently had a Lady have a fit at our local swap & Shop when she found out a flag seller there had WW11 german War and Nazi flags available for purchase. ( Of which i bought 2) She went to the local papers, The province, Her landlord even received calls from the Jewish Church groups, in doing so told the seller not to sell them there on her property. So the 2nd flag i bought she had to come to my house , and it kinda made me feel like it was a drug deal going down. In This case >>> this being my own feelings in the matter. The people who were so apposed to the selling of material with a nazi symbol, where the ones practicing it. Sorry guys i take pride in my impression and its just>> " that an impression " I get more offended when i buy groceries at the supermarket and the teller has 12 peirceings in his/her Face. But i dont start a protest to stop it >> Its just not my thing So """ Leave Me Alone""" Doc

What are socially unnacceptable markings?

Artillery? Service Battalion?

I don't recommend washing wool whatsoever, dry clean only, thats just my two bits though, if its a wool/synthetic (polyester, viscose etc) blend that is roughly 50/50 in proportion then its okay for a gentle wash.

Anything German and World War II.

Note: Stalin gets an exception. Although his genocide killed far more people we still kinda think communism was a good idea so it's ok to wear a Soviet uniform as long as you assure people that all the people you murdered were "kulaks."

Exactly. It's all about socially acceptable genocide and public perception. But what really helps Stalin in the long run is that Ukrainians aren't complainers, so we don't make 3 movies a year about how hard we had it ;)

Plus come on, it's Uncle Joe: could you stay mad at this face?

http://www.armeniapedia.org/images/t...0px-Stalin.jpg

Canada has no laws concerning banned symbols and/or insignia. The only place that I've been where something's been banned was Germany, where it's illegal to show the swastika in public. It's really interesting because even the flea markets had to cover the swastikas on the old nazi merch (like medals, passports, reichmarks, etc.) with little paper stubs. As for cleaning wool, dry clean it once or twice a season. Cold washing wool works too, but waiting for it to dry sucks, and there's the inevitable risk of mold/shrinkage/wet dog smell on your uniform.

So.. what do you think people did before drycleaning existed? and most military garments were made of 100% wool fabric?

They washed them.. by hand .. in cool water.. and dried them in the air.. It won't hurt the uniform at all

Insignia and rank .. all patches should be removed prior to washing .. and sewn back on after the uniform dries, Not all patches ( particularly if they are replica ) are colourfast..