khquilter

Wondering if neckties can be washed. I am making a
quilt for someone made out of various clothing items
of their grandfathers who passed away. I don't want
to use the ties if they can't be washed. The quilt is going
to be used for wrapping up in so they will want to be able
to wash it.

Jeanne S

If they are silk ties I don't think they would be washable-my husbands ties say to dry clean.

auntpiggylpn

I've washed all kinds of ties, cotton, poly, and silk. I just threw them in the washer like I would any other load of laundry. Warm water, regular cycle. Dried them in the dryer too. Warm dryer. However, I did not deconstruct them prior to washing. I took them apart after they were washed and dried. Don't forget that you will need to put some kind of stabilizer behind them. I use Pellon SF101.

PaperPrincess

I would have the people giving you the ties wash them first. The ones that make it thru OK will be just fine in a quilt. As auntpiggylpn said, you need to use a fusible stabilizer.

toverly

Yes, they wash. I washed them in Woolite and hung them to dry. Use fusible to stabilize them and you'll be fine. They need to be stabilized because they are all on the bias.

Prism99

I think the best way is to wash the neckties first. If you are going to use a washing machine, I would put them inside a mesh bag or pillowcase first. For ties that survive, you then need to deconstruct them -- basically cut and pull out the single thread that is holding the interfacing inside the tie and remove the interfacing. For a cuddle quilt, iron each tie to a very lightweight fusible. I don't have the specific name of a good fusible handy, so do some research and/or experimenting before fusing all the ties. You don't want to make them too stiff; you just want to stabilize all the bias fabric (ties are cut on the bias).

Silk fabric is washable. For silk, it is recommended to use a hair shampoo for soap. (Silk ties that will be continued to be worn as ties need to be dry-cleaned so the fabric doesn't shrink and distort the tie. The interfacing used in ties is usually not prewashed and tends to shrink a lot.)