In this second in her series about doll care, JoAnn Mathias shares her tips for laundering fragile doll clothes.

By JoAnn Mathias

While we all want to display our dolls, we know that dolls on display get dusty. Usually a light dusting with a soft small paintbrush every month or so will keep the dolls freshened up from normal dust. But sometimes the doll clothes need a more thorough cleaning, especially if you have recently purchased an old doll in dirty clothes. Knowing how to clean the beautiful clothes on our dolls can really improve the appearance of our collection, so I am sharing my tips for doing dolly laundry. Let’s begin by committing to memory the two biggest enemies to old doll clothes: chlorine beach and rough handling.

Chlorine bleach attacks and destroys all natural fabrics, including cotton, flax, linen, silk, wool, and other fabrics with natural fibers. Chlorine bleach enters the fabric and eventually causes the fiber strands to become brittle and break down. So NEVER, never, never use chlorine bleach on your doll clothes. Secondly, handle doll clothes as LITTLE as possible, and NEVER handle doll clothes when you’re in a hurry. As avid doll collectors who love our dolls and doll clothing, we often touch too much and sometimes too harshly with our bare hands. Touch your doll clothes as little as possible. In the steps below, you will learn how to clean your doll clothes by soaking them in various solutions. No matter what you do with your dolls and doll clothes, always treat with gentleness and care.

To do doll laundry, first assemble some large clean glass jars with lids. (Pickle jars are great.) You will also need Q-tips, plain white vinegar, Ivory SnowFlakes, Snowy Bleach, distilled cold water, two clean white towels, and an iron and sleeve board or ironing board. If the doll garments you plan to wash are stained, purchase Carbona Stain products in the specific solution for the stains you see on your doll clothes. (The Carbona Rust and the Carbona Ink solutions are the two most frequently used by doll doctors.)

Before you mix the first cleaning solution, color test the fabric of the clothes you plan to wash. To test, take a Q-tip dipped in distilled water and rub it over an inside seam. If there is any bleeding of color onto the Q-tip, do not water wash that garment. Instead purchase foam spray carpet cleaner. Apply this foam spray cleaner with a soft brush. When dry, brush the clothes with a soft dry brush. This cleaner will remove surface dirt and brighten the clothes.

But hopefully, your garment is colorfast, and you can proceed with the water wash. Remove all trim, especially any rusted snaps or hooks. After the trim is removed, pre-treat any stains on the clothes with the specific Carbona Stain Removal product for that stain. After the color test, the removal of trim, and the pre-treating of stains, you are ready to fill one of the food jars with a mixture of 50/50 vinegar and cold distilled water. Place the clothes in the jar and allow to soak for an hour. The vinegar will loosen old soil or dirt and remove the yellow aging color. After this one-hour soak, rinse clothes in another jar filled only with cold distilled water.

The next step in the water wash is to mix a solution of Ivory Snow Flakes and cold water in the jar, in the proportion recommended on Ivory Snow Flakes box. Again, soak garments for an hour. During this hour, pick up the jar and gently shake several times. If you are washing a colored fabric, check for even the slightest change in the color of the Ivory Snow wash solution. If you see any change in the color in Ivory Snow solution, rinse garments immediately in a jar of clean water. Otherwise, keep garments in the Ivory Snow wash for a full hour. Then rinse in a jar of clean water.

After the rinse, look at garments. If they are still not as clean as you would like and if no color has run, mix a solution of Snowy Bleach and cold water according to the manufacturer’s directions. Yes, I did say the word “bleach,” but Snowy is an enzyme brightener and does not contain chlorine bleach. Soak the clothes for an hour and follow by placing in a jar of clean cold water for the water rinse.

After you’ve completed these steps, mix a final 50/50 solution of vinegar and water. Soak the garments for several minutes in this mix. Then rinse one last time in a jar of clean cold water. Now take one of your two white towels and gently roll the clothing in the towel. Then gently press the rolled towel with your hands to remove any extra water. Lay the articles on the other towel to dry. You may place your dolly clothes in the sun for further brightening but no longer than half a day, and while the garments are in the sun, turn the garments once. Don’t ever hang old doll clothes on the clothesline or use clothespins, as these stress the old fibers. Instead, let the clothes dry on the towel.

When the doll clothes are dry, gently press on the lowest steam setting on your iron. Never run the iron over the fabric but gently press. Use a sleeve board and a quilter’s iron with a small tip, if you have them, as these are great for ironing doll clothes.

Then you’ll enjoy the process, and, best of all, you’ll derive a lot of satisfaction from the beautiful results.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Should I send my doll’s costume to the dry cleaners?
A: Please query the dry cleaner first. Most dry cleaners use a wet chemical wash to clean the clothes. If you cannot put the clothes in a water wash at home, know that your dry cleaner is most likely going to use a wet chemical wash. Always consult with your local dry cleaners before leaving a costume to be cleaned. Or try a foam spray carpet cleaner. See my answer below.

Q: If I cannot use a water wash for the clothes, how do I get them clean?
A: Use a foam spray carpet cleaner applied with a soft brush. When dry, brush the clothes with a soft dry brush. This cleaner will remove surface dirt and brighten the clothes.

Q: Can I put doll clothes in a mesh bag in the dryer on an “air” setting to dry?
A: Even though you are using the air setting, the tumbling action of the dryer may be too strong for the delicate fibers.

Q: Can I put starch on my doll’s clothes to give them a nice look?
A: Please do not put starch on the fabric when ironing, as over time the starch can attract bugs to your doll clothes.