Fault: These silk curtains lost their crispness and sheen after cleaning in perc on a delicates cycle.
Cause: Silk fabrics usually have a substantial quantity of yarn oils, which produces the crisp feel and also gives them a high sheen. Although perc is normally a good choice for cleaning household textiles, it is not suitable here. As well as removing the dirty thoroughly, it will also remove the yarn oils, even in just one delicate cycle. As a result, silk will be limp and look faded, even if there is no colour loss.
Responsibility: These curtains were labelled with P in a circle so the blame here lies with the curtain maker and ultimately with the original cloth producer. However, if they had been unlabelled, the cleaner would be responsible, because he should have known that a coloured silk required a milder solvent.
The cleaner would also be to blame if the curtains had been labelled F in a circle, because F denotes hydrocarbon (and conventionally indicates that cyclosiloxane is also suitable.)
Rectification: The yarn oils can frequently be restored, at least partially, by re-cleaning in a single bath charged with a little suede oil.
