👉 Please Read 🙏 ~ Silk Kimono Washing Guide ~ Recommendations from the Viewers! 🥰

Thank you all SO much for sharing your incredible wisdom, experience, and recommendations on this Meisen kimono washing experiment video! It has been amazing learning from all of you in the comments. I’ve compiled a list of the best practices, tips, and techniques recommended by the viewers in our community for safely cleaning and restoring vintage silk kimono:

💧Detergent Choices & Chemistry

~ Avoid Baking Soda: Baking soda is very alkaline and can burn delicate protein fibers (silk and wool) or lift pH-sensitive dyes.
~ Hair & Protein Cleansers: Treat silk like human hair! Use gentle shampoo, soap or dedicated wool/silk detergents with cool water.
~ Synthrapol Detergent: Using Synthrapol detergent suspends loose dye in the water bath to keep it from staining lighter areas of the fabric.

💦 Water & Dyes

~ Flowing vs. Static Water: Avoid soaking red or multi-colored pieces in standing water, which traps released dye. Wash and rinse in continuously moving water to flush loose dye away before it can reattach.
~ Dye Fixers & Vinegar: Avoid dye fixers while loose dye is still in the wash water, as it can lock in bleeding. A mild vinegar rinse helps set dyes, neutralize soap, and restore softness.

👘 Handling Wet Silk & Fabric Shrinkage

~ Handle Wet Silk Gently: Silk loses strength and tears easily when wet. Avoid tugging or twisting until it is dry.
~ Shrinkage: While some flat weaves like rinzu may resist extreme shrinkage better than heavy crepes (chirimen), always test a small corner first, as any silk can contract when introduced to water.

🌥 Drying & DIY Araihari Process

~ Towel Roll & Shade Drying: Roll washed silk in a clean towel to absorb excess moisture, then air-dry in the shade out of direct sunlight.
~ Alcohol: Misting fabric with alcohol and airing it in the shade may help break down storage odors without a wash.
~ DIY Araihari Process: Pin damp fabric flat onto a foam board to gently stretch it back to its original width as it dries, mimicking traditional araihari and shinshi bamboo stretcher methods.

👚 Ironing, Heat & Steam

~ Pressing vs. Ironing: Avoid dragging the iron while pulling the fabric, which stretches the bias grain out of shape. Use a straight up-and-down pressing motion instead.
~ Damp Towel: Ironing over a damp towel or press cloth is a fantastic way to smooth out wrinkles safely without scorching or shining the fabric.
~ Dry Heat vs. Steam: Some prefer high dry heat on completely dry silk, but avoid direct steam as it can cause fibers to shrink.
~ Fixing Stretched Bias with Steam: Hover a steaming iron over stretched or warped areas without touching to let the steam contract the fibers back into shape, then finish with a dry press.

🙏 Thank you again to everyone who chimed in and everyone for reading this! 🥰

I think with re-dyeing of a kimono length of silk to make it wearable again is actually quite smart. Re-dyeing of denim with indigo or to a dark black are more common to save a favorite denim or linen garment is a really good idea and just isn't done that often in the US anymore.

Glad I found your channel. Your video is so peaceful to watch. Have a great rest of your day!

I had a suggestion that since u salvaged that kimono. Perhaps u have a embroidery needle n some sort of thread u like to use on your new thrifted fabric.....

Thanks for sticking with me until the end of this antique Meisen Kimono washing journey! 👘 In order to keep the video to a manageable length (I know it got long!), I had to cut out quite a bit of footage. For example… it’s hard to believe, but I actually washed it 3 additional times: twice with a dye-fixing solution and once more with gentle detergent. If I had kept those clips in, the video would have been another 20 minutes long! 😅

The dye-setting process worked fairly well, especially on my second try. I’m hoping that when I wash this Meisen Kimono upcycled piece in the future, the bleeding will be minimal. I can only hope…

What have you been up to lately? Any new and exciting projects to report to the community? We’d love to hear about them! As you know, the creative process is a winding road of ups and downs, but as long as we can stomach some of those downs, it can be a lot of fun!

If you have any tips for working with these amazing antique kimono and obi fabrics, please share them with the community! We can all learn from each other's experiences. 🥰

~~~~ Resources ~~~~
I found great info on Meisen kimono on this website (kimonoichiba.com) to be really helpful. Take a peak if you're interested!
👉 https://tinyurl.com/4nsksz7m

Professional Arai-Hari Process Videos:
👉 https://youtu.be/HSBTMeFVFzA?si=DraZ3uk4lvSoKWDl
👉 https://youtu.be/18hbo8FahHQ?si=FpdPlrG3Jxcyrxqh

And... If you’re interested in seeing more videos of kimono fabric washing experiments and remaking projects, feel free to check out my playlists below:
👉 Washing Kimono: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEUdo9UXFASY
👉 Upcycling: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLULs-PgOrBcU3WMs_WpT4uy_QVhD4p8xw

I always joke everything is washable, some things just once 😅 . I’ve had the same experience as you, but with an obi 😅 that obi I ended tossing away because it started to tear apart when it came in contact with water as well as the embroidery lost all its foil.

Nowadays what I do when I wash old kimono fabric is to take a small piece and test before washing everything to see if the dye runs, if the fabric stands machine washing (not meisen kimonos though, I’ve never had the opportunity to buy one) and to see how much it shrinks.

Wow u have such a beautiful home

YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL KIMONO AND SUCH AN ADORABLE "SUPERVISIOR" WATCHING OVER YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE DOING THE PROCEDURE RIGHT! LOL!:face-red-heart-shape::face-red-heart-shape::face-red-heart-shape::face-red-heart-shape::face-red-heart-shape::face-red-heart-shape:

I love your video and I love and collect kimono. A few thoughts:

(1) Until they retired I bought kimono and bolts of kimono fabric from ICHIROYA in Japan. They frequently had articles by historian JOHN MARSHALL on their website - he does workshops and has authored a books on Japanese textiles that you might find useful.
(2) As to washing a red kimono and avoiding dye transfer - red dye is a small molecule which releases and transfers easily --  so, when you soak red and blue fabric in a STATIC bath you are essentially soaking it in a RED dye bath -- which is likely why the blue on your fabric became "overdyed" with red.  Your dye fixing liquid made that red overdye more permanent and less likely to be removed by any detergent.
(3) Near the end of the film MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA  the main character is working for a kimono artisan in the countryside - in the background, long pieces of kimono fabric are seen with one end attached to a pole over a river - the fabric extends and rinses in the flowing river - MOVING water not a static container. [It's a great film and the kimono river scene was a revelation for me.]
(4) As to your fabric not laying flat after you ironed it:  You were holding one corner while pulling the iron along the bias grain - that stretched your fabric and threw it off grain, preventing it from flattening.  The harder you ironed, the more distorted the fabric became.

Instead of ironing, try PRESSING (ironing and pressing aren't the same thing) Pressing means placing the iron down and lifting it up, while ironing involves forcefully holding the iron down and dragging it across the fabric which can cause it to distort and stretch off grain.  (Also, heat from the iron, likely FURTHER cemented the red overdye into the blue areas of your fabric)

I know these comments are long, but I hope they help a little. 🙂

Suggestion. Next time you iron use a slightly damp towel o too of the kimono fabric then iron fabric. Give it a try. Thank you for sharing

thank you so much! I learn so much from this. I'm also navigating cleaning and removing smells for upcycling secondhand kimono's. I haven't dared putting them in water for longer than 20 seconds, which is enough for a light cleaning. But the smell is definitely difficult to get rid of. I've heard airing them in a shaded spot outside for a few days up to 2 weeks could help but I haven't tried it yet. I need to find a good kimono hanger first.

So yeah my first action would be to hang it or lay it in the sun for days inside out. I’m so grateful for that dry cleaner telling me that nothing is better than the sun for doing that.

And always add the vinegar first wash it helps set the color from bleeding ,  as much anyway.

I think silk and rayon fibers are weaker when wet! I heard that is why so many silk garments are labeled “do not launder”.???? They can be washed but carefully handled when wet.

I’ve read that baking soda is too alkaline to use with silk and can both deteriorate the fabric and lift ph sensitive dyes. I’ve never attempted to wash a silk kimono, but from what I know about textile care I would first try to get rid of any smell by misting the fabric with alcohol and leaving it to air in dry out of the sun (the sun can fade dyes). If that doesn’t do the trick, then maybe I’d try soaking it in a mild vinegar solution, before gently washing it with a no rinse silk detergent, drain it without wringing and then roll it into a towel and gently press to get out the water. Then to dry the fabric I would try to block it, the same way you do with  sweaters, by pinning it to a foam board, gently stretching it to the same with as it was before washing, and letting the fabric dry on the board.

I own what I believe to be a silk haori, it’s pretty formal, having five kamon. I was thinking about altering it to fit me, but realising how hard it is to wash them is giving me second thoughts.

Would rinsing the fabric first with white vinegar made the colour bleeding less? when I dye wool or silk the recipe says to rinse with white vinegar to fix the colour so it bleeds less.

Oh, I recognize that fabric texture. That kind of rough texture is definitely *chirimen*. It behaves terribly during washing and if not given proper care afterward.
That texture comes from the varying twists of the threads. It’s set using a hot press or by stretching the fabric out to its full length. And every time it gets wet, it will shrink back up.
I’ve tried stretching one of those kimonos out—it’s a nightmare.
The color is tricky, but washing it with vinegar right away is a good idea. Oh, and the red lining will 1,000% bleed. Just a 15-minute soak in a basin with shampoo, followed by a good rinse, should be enough. It doesn't shrink!
That third one—the delicate-colored one—is an absolute nightmare to wash. It shrinks too, though at least it smooths out after ironing. I gave up experimenting with that kind.
To keep the width consistent, you could try pinning the edges and—crucially—using starch or hairspray.
(Translated from Russian)

I love love Meisen, it feels like satin !!!
The bane of my existence too, the smell some of these come with 😮😮😮.  The smell of my apt completely changed , even the smell of my dogs hair, since I brought kimonos into it.
It’s one of the reasons I started trying to wash them, to help lessen that smell. And also , who wants to wear some one else’s dirt ? 😅
What did you say your dogs name is ? She is such a doll ❤
I love your overgrown (almost) yard. I also love gardening, my mom was so proficient at that as well. She was a Martha Stewart before there was a Martha Stewart. After my parents divorced she got the car worked on or other things fixed by offering one of her home cooked meals. 😊. Since I never married or had children I didn’t take up cooking so much, but her love of gardening and sewing and cleaning run deep. ❤
100 years old !!!! Oh my !!! I wonder the age of some of my kimonos .
Your dog’s temperament reminds me some of my fox terrier’s temperament. Oh how I miss her.
You know what I’ve done is cut off one of the sleeves and wash it alone first to see how badly it bleeds.
I’ve had to hang out kimonos inside out in the hot summer sun to get rid of the smell. And it has really worked. But sometimes it takes multiple days. Then i hang right side out in the shade for days too.

You know silk has an odor of its own too. I mean it is made by worms right? 😅.
I stretch it out when it’s wet first and then even it out when ironing. I use a hot iron with steam , using a cotton fabric as my ironing protection .

Yes the better way is to hang it out in the sun inside out for days then hang it in the shade right side out for days.
It really works, I learned it from the dry cleaner :)
I’m excited for the skirt !!! When you first showed the top that was my first thought ❤ look forward to seeing it !

I hope I didn’t offend you by offering those Obi information. I was shopping for myself and saw them and thought of you.
I have a kimono similar to that one, it’s more purple and has silver instead of the light blue. Also had bright red lining, which I’m using to make an infinity scarf and scrunchies. You can sell those too . 😊

I think my take on this is a bit controversial because while I understand many peoples desire to keep kimono looking as new as possible as far as I'm concerned that is a bit defeating the point.

Kimono are clothes, they are meant to be worn and in the process become worn. Ink fades, fabric becomes softer and thinner and less stiff. Trying to preserve a 'like new' color and texture to me is like never smiling so you don't get wrinkles - a bit silly and defeating the point of actually LIVING in your wardrobe.

I wash and air every kimono silk before I re-size to my own measurements because no matter how careful you are 100 years unwashed will always = filthy. Add people dry cleaning them on top of it ( i.e. a good part of the source of that horrendous chemical smell most kimono have ) and the thought of NOT properly cleaning them makes my stomach turn a bit honestly.

You wouldn't wear a jacket or a dress for five decades that you picked up from a thrift store without a single wash would you? 🤢

I would MUCH rather let go of the obsession with 'newness' and (carefully) wash my kimono. Letting it get old and worn with me is soo much better in my opinion.

And here I add a bit of advice: do not wash kimono in standing water but running water ONLY. I use just a little bit of shredded soap in the first dunk, leave it only three minutes max and then rinse rinse rinse!

It aires in the sun until dry and then I check for scent and residue. If it needs another round I do it then.

Beware of baking soda which is very alkaline and can burn delicate fibers in high concentration. Silk is a protein fiber so much more compatible with vinegar. Not sure if it would have worked in this case, but there is a product called synthrapol, available from dharma trading in the US, that prevents loose dye in the water from staining other areas. I only use shampoo for washing silk, again protein fiber is like your hair and will respond similarly to chemicals.

こんにちは！
YouTubeのおすすめから来ました。
素敵な生地の銘仙ですね😊
色が落ちてしまっても素敵✨

銘仙、元々が学生さんが着られる絹っていうコンセプトだったと思うので、シルクの質が大島紬とかとは違うのでしょうね。

銘仙は特に生地が脆いので、冷水でシャンプーを溶かしたものにクエン酸を混ぜて洗っています。すすぐのもクエン酸を混ぜて洗います。
脱水して、生乾きの時に、滑らさないように上から押し当てる感じにアイロンしてます。
私も着物リメイク好きで、紫の銘仙の前後の身頃を使って、ロングワンピースを作りましたが、軽くてとても良いものが出来ました。
MadlyKimonoさんがどのようにリメイクされるのか楽しみです！  

お邪魔しました😊