apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I know I've brought this up before (in a thread about felt clogs, I think), but I have to say that I never take clothes to a dry cleaner. I handwash delicates, even those marked dry clean only. So far I've ruined 1 silk charmeuse blouse (in maybe 10 years or so), but wool sweaters, wool slacks, cotton items, and other silks have been fine. Mostly I'm too lazy/cheap to drive to the dry cleaner and pay them to deal with my laundry! I might feel differently if I wore suits to work because no way am I handwashing 5 outfits a week, but for now my system works well.
Oh, and by the way, I'm not a frumpy dresser.

Does anyone know how dangerous home drycleaning kits like Dryel are? I wear suits to work and tend to use Dryel to freshen them rather than taking them to the cleaner's unless I've worn them a few times or I've spilled something on them. I live in Indianapolis, and there aren't many green cleaners here. I guess I'm trying to decide which is worse for the environment and my health: using the Dryel or having garments cleaned at a traditional dry cleaner.

And like Caitlin, I also successfully hand wash just about everything else that can't be put in the machine. I like Ecover's detergent for delicates.

Many silk blouses can even go through the washing machine on your most gentle cycle, if you've let the handwashing pile up long enough to be depressing. You want to use some caution about this -- I do it only for solidly constructed garments that I acquired as part of my campaign to provide homes for unloved silk marked down to $10 or less -- but other than buttons falling off (and a lot of ironing to do) I haven't had any problems.

Silk jackets and skirts also handwash (really by hand!) successfully, as do most sweaters (just be careful how you hang them -- I want mine to hang so the sleeves don't shrink on me, but you probably want to dry yours flat). I've never done anything beyond spot removal on wool slacks or skirts by hand, but that's mostly because I can't replicate the creases at home.

I can't remember the last time I had something dry cleaned. I try to buy only washable clothes. For the few things that can't be like lined jackets - those usually can be spot cleaned and air-freshened.

I don't dry clean much, but when I do I try to find a green(er) cleaner. I would just remind people to ask directly whether or not your cleaner uses perc. I recently found a cleaner (on Irving st between 18th and 19th in NY, I think) that claimed to use and "organic" process, and when I pushed them, they told me that they used perc as a solvent in water.

i started using Dryel pretty recently and i'd also like to know if it's considered a better bet or a...toxicker bet? heh.