How To Wash Your Lolita Dress
{flickr|100|campaign} Maybe, you have collected lots of resources on how to get a Lolita dress on budget or how to be really elegant lolita in various style. When you atten a Lolita meet-up, it is not careful to get stain on you dress. Thus, you have to consider how to make your dress get rid of these stain but still not lose its original luster.
Firstly, before you put your clothing into washer, make sure all detachable things have been taken off, such as bows, lace up ribbons, charms and anything else that you can take off. If you have something that laces up through some delicate lace, be sure to take that out because it can get caught on other things, which may rip the lace. Bows also can get off and rip the fabric if they are too heavy. Chains and charms should never be washed because they will nearly always break. Clothing should also be turned inside out before you wash it in case the pieces will fade slightly with each wash and this way can ensure most of fading will happen to the inside. Then you start to wash these pieces in the washer, but you should use gentle detergent with gentle cycle in cold water. Never mix with other stuff, especially not towels because they tend to get fuzzies all over your clothes that are hart to get off. Once it is done you should avoid hanging it up under direct sunlight to dry, which also can lead to fade.
It is better to consider hand washing if you have the time. In the same way, you also need to remove all the bows and ribbons and flip piece inside out. Then fill up a clean sink with cold water and put a little gentle detergent. It seems like all is ready to put your pieces in, but make sure you have swished the detergent around to get some bubbles and then add your stuff. Or the detergent cant mix well with the water and some particulate detergent can adhere to the fabric. Gently Scrub at any areas which need to be cleaned. Never wring the dress when you finished cleaning, just squeeze gently. Also, dont hurry to hang it because it is difficult to take too much water out of your dress with your hand. Thus, most of water in the dress generates vertical gravity which can make the dress get deformed. So put it somewhere to drip dry.
In short, Lolita dress is expensive hobby. You need to take good care of it, or it will let you be inferior. If you have a cheap one only just for cosplay, you can be slightly relaxed to clean it but not too negligent.
