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Rachel wearing a pink kilt

A pink kilt

I bought myself a second-hand kilt on Vinted. It’s a bright pink Harris Tweed 21st Century Kilt and has been worn only once by a piper at a breast cancer charity event back in 2011. Elizabeth Hurley was at the event and signed the underside of it.

Elizabeth Hurley's signature on the pink kilt with a heart shape

As with all second-hand clothes I wash them or take them to be dry-cleaned because you don’t know where they’ve been. I went to the dry-cleaners today and I realised there might be an issue with the signature which I didn’t want washed off.

I naively asked them whether they could clean around it. The woman gave me that look you get when you’ve just asked something dumb and she replied that the entire garment goes into a machine. So no. She then asked me why I couldn’t just add a name label to it like you get for children’s clothes at which point I realised she thought this was the name of the person who owns the kilt rather than Liz Hurley’s signature. It was like dumb and dumber trying to have a conversation.

Most people go to the dry-cleaners hoping to have a stain removed. I’m probably the first person who wanted to retain a stain. Apparently there’s a 50% chance dry-cleaning will remove it so I decided not to do it and brought the kilt home uncleaned.

So now I can’t help wondering, did the piper wear the kilt in the traditional way?

Rachel pulling a face while wearing the kilt.

Maybe I’ll hang it out in the sun for a few hours.

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Rachel M

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Comments

12 responses to “A pink kilt”

  1. Creascreation Avatar
    Creascreation

    There are small hand held steam cleaners. You could use that yourself and just go around that spot. I hope I helped a little. That was a hard decision to make at the cleaners. Thank you for sharing! 😊

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      That’s a great idea, thank you. Do you know whether you can use them on wool?

      Reply
      1. Creascreation Avatar
        Creascreation

        You should be able to. There are different ones on Amazon and other stores.

      2. Over Soil Avatar
        Over Soil

        Steam might shrink the wool garment

      3. Creascreation Avatar
        Creascreation

        I was thinking that too, but I was told otherwise. Maybe there’s a certain setting.

      4. Over Soil Avatar
        Over Soil

        Steam is a constant temperature surely?

      5. Rachel M Avatar
        Rachel M

        I think steam is a lower temperate than an iron. I read on some Harris Tweed site anyway that it’s ok to use.

      6. Over Soil Avatar
        Over Soil

        Maybe, maybe?

  2. Denise Avatar
    Denise

    That’s a nice colour. I usually handwash delicate looking wool garments in lukewarm water so maybe you could do that avoiding the signature area?

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      As a last resort I could do that but I’ll wait and see. Fabrics tend to deteriorate when washed. The best way to keep clothes lasting forever is to never wash them but then we’d all stink so not really an option!

      Reply
  3. MJ Flournoy Avatar
    MJ Flournoy

    Found you blog when I followed a link while researching Dunnottar Castle. Now I can enjoy you amazing blog. Why yes, I did follow the rabbit hole of the internet doing my little search. Now I need to think on how to clean your kilt but save the signature. Putting it in the sun sounds promising, but remember to turn the signature inside so the sun doesn’t fade the ink. Cheers from Georgia, USA.

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Thanks for the tip! I’ll remember that when I try. I’m just waiting for a sunny day. We’ve had rain all week! And welcome 🙂

      Reply

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