How to Wash Your Dirndl Dress Keep the Colors Alive

So Oktoberfest is finally over and as the feeling of festivity fades away, you realize your German dirndl dress isn’t as pristine as it was when you bought it. The stains of mustard and the smell of stale beer linger over the dress and you need to clean it pronto if you want it to retain its elegance and beauty. Yet, cleaning the dirndl dress can be a tricky thing to do, since it is not your average dress and regular cleaning methods may do more harm than good.

That doesn’t mean, however, that cleaning the dirndl is impossible. All it takes is a basic knowledge of fabrics and how to treat them during the cleaning process. You don’t want to ruin the colors of your dirndl dress after all since they are what make the dirndl distinct. So let us take a look at how you can safely clean your dirndl without damaging the color and the texture of the fabric.

Read the Label

Whether you purchase the dirndl online from the Lederhosen Store or from a physical store, authentic dirndl dress will have labels on them instructing how to clean them. These labels tell you whether to put the garment in the wash, dry clean it or spot clean it. So you might want to read the label to make the cleaning easy for yourself.

If the label says to dry clean, then you can simply give the garment to a dry cleaner without fear of ruining it. However, if the garment is more delicate and has hand-made designs or fragile and elaborate details then you will want to spot clean it.

Aprons are usually made from fabrics that are machine washable and they are present right at the front so they are most likely to get dirty. Yet, it is easy to clean them by simply tossing them into the washing machine. The blouse which is a mixture of cotton & polyester can also be dry cleaned more often than not, without damaging the fabric or fading the color. It is the dirndl and the intricate handwork embedded in it that makes it difficult to clean with conventional methods.

How to Spot Clean the Dirndl Dress

Spot cleaning refers to cleaning the dirndl dress in the exact spot where the stain exists. Usually, the dirndl needs to be spot cleaned since it has the most intricate design and is made with fabrics that would be ruined by dry cleaning or washing.

You are going to have to be careful though since spot cleaning can only be done with a spotting agent which removes the stain. If used heavily, then the spotting agent can leave a ring around the area where the stain used to be, ruining the cloth. It is best to take the dirndl to a high-end dry cleaner and ask them to spot clean it for you. Or at least discuss the risks of cleaning the dirndl with a spotting agent with them.

If you are going to spot clean the dirndl, nothing more is required than a wet rag and some detergent or spotting agent. Gently rub the wet rag on the spot where the stain exists. If the stain is just beer, mustard or other food items, then it can be removed with a spotting agent or detergent. However, pit stains are difficult to remove since they embed into the fabric making it difficult to remove them without damaging the strands of fabric.

At the end of the day, as long as you follow the instructions on the label and don’t take too long before getting around to removing stains, you should be fine.