A lot of people have been enquiring on ‘what’s the best way of caring for African fabrics?’ This recurring question has prompted us to come up with this write-up, so as to guide on maintaining the standards of African fabrics like Ankara and Kitenge to the optimal quality. Inasmuch as you might know the simple ways of preserving and caring for your normal clothing, but on African fabrics, there may be some slight inputs to these methods. The whole of this article will help you with how to care for your winsome traditional fabrics in the best way.
Best Ways of Caring For Your African Fabrics
When buying your fabrics, it looked pretty good, isn’t it? You might be interested in knowing what’s will be involved in maintaining this good appearance of the clothing. This is surely the way of caring for your African fabrics. Certainly, this really incorporates washing, but apart from that, there are many other things to do in making your clothing come out perfect.
Below is the rundown of the best methods to employ in caring for your ankara and kitenge fabrics;
Washing The Fabrics
Washing can’t be a new thing in caring for fabrics and clothing. This is because we all know that we ought to wash our clothes so as to preserve them. The issue of concern here is that it does not necessarily mean washing, but washing accurately and properly. Generally, there are two major things involved in washing fabrics: the hand washing and the dry cleaning.
It’s of the best interest of maintaining your clothes by avoiding stains which are unfortunately unavoidable. An important advice on when removing stains while hand washing, is that you should never use bleach or anything as harsh. But rather, try using something mild and gentler on fabrics, like the baking soda and mild detergents.
Going on a professional way to get your garments cleaned, then make sure the place or laundry has experience with African print fabrics. Whichever method you choose, either the hand washing or dry cleaning, it will still be good if only you follow the given guide. We hope these tips will help keep your fabric pieces vibrant and longer.
Testing the Colorfastness
Colorfastness is the tendency of your fabrics material to be able to keep the same color even if washed or placed in light. It can also be defined as the ability of the fabric to have color that retains its original hue without fading or running.
In attaining colorfastness for your clothing, it’s important to always separate coloured ones from the whites. On the off chance that you would like to mix your African fabrics with others, then ensure to always test the colour fastness of the fabrics.
How can colorfastness be tested? You probably were contemplating this question. You can try these two easy methods to test the fabrics colorfastness:
- Firstly, you will have to dampen a piece of white cloth, lay it on top of the print fabric and iron them. Do the ironing of both materials until they become dry.
- Next, apply your cleaning agent to a hidden seam of the garment. After you will have to then dab the area with a clean cotton cloth. Observe what will happen next. If the color removes itself from the garment onto the cloth with any of these methods then it implies that you should not mix it with other garments.
Pick The Right Temperature and Detergent
Washing of African print fabrics in cold or lukewarm water is the safest and best way to clean this kind of clothing. This involves you hand washing them in a low temperature water. In the case that you will have to use a washing machine, then it’s best to wash in cold water on the gentle cycle and ensure to skip the spin cycle. Having the right temperature for the washing of your fabrics will be a good way to preserve them. To complement this will be by having it right in your selection of detergents. Sometimes, a lot of people use a harsh cleanser or detergent on a moderate fabric, and this may result in the unwanted.
Ensure to Always Dry Your Garments Properly
This is what we call it when it comes to laundry. After washing your African fabrics, always ensure to hang the garments so as to dry or lay them down. Ensure to avoid wringing or twisting them to dry will. This is very harmful as it will only compromise the rich colours of the fabric and cause them to fade off rapidly. Additionally, never try tumble drying on your fabrics. Rather ensure to always iron the garment on the inside.
Ironing With the Ideal Temperature
When ironing an African fabrics, it’s important to always set you on the ideal heat. Since most African print fabrics are made of cotton, the temperature setting on your iron may sometimes be unsupportive for the clothing. Nevertheless, look out for attachments made of linen and other more delicate fabrics which may require a lower setting. After getting these materials, apply them to your ironing and see how it will go perfectly fine.
Things to Consider in Washing Your African Fabrics
To help ensure the longevity of African print fabric, there are some critical variables you ought not to avoid in washing your fabrics. Here are the things to put into consideration when washing your African fabrics;
- When washing this clothing, either by a machine or hand wash, ensure to use a cold moderate water with similar colors of clothing. Using the temperature of 30 degrees or a cold wash setting is perfect when using a machine.
- Ensure to always turn the garment(s) inside out when washing in the machine. This is when you are washing African wax print clothing.
- Using a mild washing powder is preferable as a good way to care for your African fabrics when washing.
- When using the washing machine, use a gentle machine setting such as ‘hand wash’ to avoid the spin cycle.
- Also, line dry out of direct sunlight as the sun can cause colour damage to your fabrics.
- Lastly, ensure to always iron your fabrics using the cotton setting. We already emphasized much on ironing earlier in this article.
Wrap Up
That’s our take on the best way to care for your African fabrics, and we hope you have found this information helpful. You can get in touch by sharing your comments, if you have any questions about caring for your African wax print fabric or garments.
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