Crumpled silk

[Katiebee]

I have a long, full, silk evening gown which, through necessity, will probably have to remain folded up in its bag until maybe only an hour or two before I wear it. I know the bottom of it is going to be rather crumpled when it's unwrapped. How can I smooth it out or, at least, make it look less crumpled? Would it be too risky to take a cool iron to it? Thanks for any advice you can give.

[Pea Pod]

If you turn it inside out is there a facing or other piece of material you could try a cool iron on, just to see if it is alright.

[WendyS]

Probably the best way of dealing with this is not to fold it at all, but to buy some tissue paper, lay the dress on the floor covered in tissue paper and roll the dress up like a long sausage. This will prevent it forming creases which then get crushed into place. .

You can try ironing it with a very low temperature iron. However I've often found that if you try ironing silk it seems to make it suffer from a lot of static electricity afterwards and the material can become very "clingy" to the body.

[jennyp]

If you can hang in a steamy bathroom, creases drop out, or hang above steaming kettle.

[masterchef]

Hold a steam iron up to it or even iron it with a steam iron.Irons often have a silk setting.

[skyep]

Katie - Do you own a travel iron? Maybe someone you know may own one & lend it to you for the night?

[Katiebee]

skyep - yes I do have a travel iron. It doesn't get that hot at the best of times, so I might just try that. Oh, and Wendy, thank you for your suggestion - I suppose I could use a towel just as well instead of tissue paper??

Thank you, everyone, for your help. There is hope that I won't turn up looking a wreck after all!