Antique Silk: To Wash or Not To Wash? What Would You Do?

I don't know if anyone here sews or not, but on the off chance that a fellow dressmaker is lurking about, I thought I'd ask.

As you may or may not know (depending on which of my blogs you read and how often you read them ) , I have just bought a 35yd bolt of antique silk. This fabric is going to be used to make the 4 kimonos worn by Lord Sesshomaru through the series (The InuYasha books for those who don't know what I'm talking about). The white on each of these kimono, is of course the color of the fabric, while the colored sections on the kimonos, I am going to add via hand embroidery. It's going to take me 3 or 4 months to do the embroidery on each kimono, so an awful lot of time and work is going into these. The embroidery once finished, will not be able to be washed, by either machine or hand, and can only be "spot cleaned" with a sponge. So, that said, once these kimonos are finished, I will never be able to wash them.

Normally I buy a new fabric and throw it in the washing machine to pre-wash it and pre-shrink it, before I even consider cutting it out and sewing it into anything. Wither or not it goes in the dryer depends on what type of fabric it is.

Here's my dilemma:

* This fabric is 100% pure silk, and a very lightweight one too.
* This fabric is handwoven.
* This fabric is antique.


So... each of those types of fabric would require special care, but this fabric is all three in one! Do you have any special tips or advice of washing and handling silks or antique fabrics?

I know that silk can shrink like crazy when washed, so pre-washing is recommended. On the other hand the finished garment is not likely to ever be washed, ever. The fact that this silk is an antique, means that it should be handled with more care too.

So, should I pre-wash this fabric or not? What would you do? Would YOU wash it? If so, would you wash it by hand or by machine? Hot water or cold? With soap or just plain water? If with soap, what type should I use?

I might not wash it at all. But I'm worried about it shrinking too, so I'm thinking a soak in the tub, is the best road, so I'll probably do that.

If you need more info about the cloth itself or what I'm doing with it, and pictures of it, that info can all be found here: ekcosplay.blogspot.com/2008/05/antique-silk-to-wash-or-not-to-wash.html

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