Help me not wreck this scarf.
July 10, 2013 10:07 AM Subscribe
I bought a scarf made of a very delicate, tissue-y kind of silk that catches and pulls if I so much as touch it. Yes, it was cheap, and we get what we pay for, but I still like it and would still like to wear it. Is there anything I can do to prevent/slow down the catching/pulling process? For example, ironing it before wearing it?
Response by poster: Night_owl, it catches on anything, not just me.
posted by uans at 10:44 AM on July 10, 2013
posted by uans at 10:44 AM on July 10, 2013
Best answer: How are you wearing it? Maybe wrap it in loops and tuck in the ends rather than let any of it hang free and flow away from your body? (See "Amy" and "Roberta" examples here.)
posted by dayintoday at 10:50 AM on July 10, 2013
posted by dayintoday at 10:50 AM on July 10, 2013
it's possible this may just WRECK the scarf for you, but based on the idea of using a dab of clear nail polish to prevent hose runs from unraveling, they make a clear lacquer spray for instruments.. Nikolas Lacquer, that I find to be a thing I love and spray all over everything all the time. it'd be sort of like coating your whole scarf in a fine layer of nail polish.
if it's mostly just the edges that are snagging, then if you made some sort of carboard cover for the middle of the scarf and just sprayed the outside edges it may help too without losing your silky feeling.
hairspray would be a less drastic form of this as well, though I find hairspray to stay vaguely sticky for the rest of your life and also if it's near me it invariably gets in my mouth.
I would guess that's a synthetic material, and with strands that fine I think I'd worry about ironing melting it. if it's real silk though, you could try it, on a low heat?
posted by euphoria066 at 11:48 AM on July 10, 2013
if it's mostly just the edges that are snagging, then if you made some sort of carboard cover for the middle of the scarf and just sprayed the outside edges it may help too without losing your silky feeling.
hairspray would be a less drastic form of this as well, though I find hairspray to stay vaguely sticky for the rest of your life and also if it's near me it invariably gets in my mouth.
I would guess that's a synthetic material, and with strands that fine I think I'd worry about ironing melting it. if it's real silk though, you could try it, on a low heat?
posted by euphoria066 at 11:48 AM on July 10, 2013
Best answer: I have several scarves like that and while I've never tried a chemical or heat prevention for the snags, I do try really hard to keep them away from clothing with zippers, high embroidery or beads, or anything with a velcro closure. If they do snag badly, I try to tease the fibers back into place and snip any trailing threads-- you might have more luck spot-daubing those areas with clear nail polish.
posted by jetlagaddict at 11:57 AM on July 10, 2013
posted by jetlagaddict at 11:57 AM on July 10, 2013
If it helps at all, I don't think of that as "wrecked" so much as "what happens to that type of material as it wears in". It's the same as soft leather bags getting colored, scratched, etc. Sometimes it can look awkward in the middle of the process, but it is what makes it awesome later.
posted by dame at 12:14 PM on July 10, 2013
posted by dame at 12:14 PM on July 10, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by thinkpiece at 10:22 AM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]