Does Silk Fade in The Sun? How to Fade or Revive Faded Silk
The sun takes its toll. Besides providing everyone with light and warmth, the sun can be very destructive when it comes to fabrics. When left out in direct sunlight fabrics, including upholstered furniture can fade in the sun.
Does silk fade in the Sun? Yes, silk does fade in the sun. If you want to lessen the color of silk, just leave it in the sun for a while. To restore some shine to silk, soak it in some vinegar and water until soaked, then remove and rinse it off in clean water.
To learn all about fading or restoring silk just continue to read our review. The sun is not a good friend to this fabric so you need to learn about handling the direct sunlight when wearing silk
Can Silk Fade?
Yes it can. The sun does a real number of silk fabrics if they are left out in its sunlight by mistake. Or if you wear silk on a sunny day and do a lot of activities outdoors.
The fabric may be very strong for its fiber size but it is not vulnerable free. It has weaknesses and the sun is one of those weaknesses. The best time to wear silk is early in the morning, or after the sun goes down. That will keep the hot sunlight off the fabric and protect it from harm.
Silk is good at breathing and it is a very inviting fabric to wear. You just have to be cautious when you go outside in the direct sunlight. After you wear silk, you may understand why so many old West women used a parasol when they went out in the sun. It just wasn’t to protect their skin.
Do Silk Plants Fade?
Yes they will. They are made from silk and the silk fabric is known to fade over time. They also get dusty as just sitting there on a table or bookshelf the dust can pile up. The good thing is that it doesn’t take too much to get that dust off.
Also, a lot of the silk flowers made today are a silk poly blend. This bend is supposed to make the flowers last longer and fade slower. If left unprotected the silk poly flowers will fade as much as the more traditional pure silk flowers do.
Then if you do not want to mess with brightening faded flowers, it is possible to buy outdoor ones that were created not to fade. A good UV spray protectant will also keep silk flowers from fading. Just spray it on and you should have little to no trouble with the flowers’ colors.
How To Brighten Faded Silk Flowers
One way to brighten up silk flowers is to coat them in a UV protective spray. This spray should retain the vivid colors your flowers have for up to one year. But even with this protection the weather can wreak havoc on silk flowers and fade them very quickly.
When it comes time to revive faded silk flowers, just follow these simple steps:
1. Use a chemical cleaning spray made for silk flowers. Make sure to follow the directions on the can or in the box. These types of sprays are designed to get rid of dust.
2. Next pour a 1/2 cup of salt into a paper bag. Place your faded flowers inside, close the top, and shake like you are adding salt to popcorn. You only need to shake for a minute. The salt should get the dust off
3. Try a damp cloth. If that doesn’t get all the dust off, place the flowers in a bowl of cool water with soap in it. Swish the flowers around for a short length of time and then blow dry with your hair dryer set on cool.
After removing the flowers from their bath rinse them in cool water before drying. Of course, do a test first before using this method.
4. Another method to try is to put an attachment on your vacuum cleaner that is so small it won’t suck the flowers up. When that is done you can vacuum them until the dust is gone. Or you can blow the flowers with a hairdryer, just keep the device on cool.
How To Fade Silk Fabric
The first rule to fading silk is DO NOT bleach. This chemical compound can ruin silk by dissolving the fibers. The compound you can use is hydrogen peroxide. Here are the steps to follow:
1. gather your supplies. These are hydrogen peroxide, soda ash, a stockpot, synthrapol, and white vinegar. Oh and a thermometer as well. For hydrogen peroxide, you have options-- one cup 35% hydrogen peroxide, three and a half cups 10% hydrogen peroxide, or six pints 3% hydrogen peroxide
2. Fill your stockpot with water and bring it to a boil. When it boils, turn the heat off and let the water cool to 140 degrees F. Next, add 1/2 teaspoon of synthrapol and soda ash per pound of dry fabric and stir till dissolved. Put your fabric in and wash it in this solution.
Once done, remove the fabric and dump the mixture. Rinse the fabric thoroughly.
3. Mix hydrogen peroxide, one teaspoon synthrapol, and seven and a half tablespoons of soda ash to cool water. The water only needs to cover the fabric. Mix and then heat to 130 degrees and then shut the heat down.
4. Add the fabric in and stir, making sure it gets completely wet and keep the fabric fully submerged throughout this step. Put weights on it to hold it down.
5. Now leave the fabric in this mixture between 15 to 24 hours. When that period ends dump the water and rinse the garment in warm water.
6. At this pint, you mix 11 tablespoons of white vinegar to each gallon of warm water and put the fabric in this mixture. This should stop the hydrogen peroxide from continuing to bleach the fabric.
7. Once 10 minutes have passed, rinse well.
8. Hang to dry and once it is dry you can use the fabric.
How To Fix Faded Silk
Here is one method you can try. It is simple and not that hard to do if you have a large enough washbasin you can use.
1. Mix 1/4 cup of vinegar for every gallon of warm water you put in the washbasin.
2. Stir the mixture together then add the silk garments you want to revitalize.
3. Make sure to submerge the garment and stir them around a little bit. Get them soaking wet before taking the next step.
4. Once that is done, remove from the water and rinse well. You want to get rid of the vinegar odor before drying the garments.
5. After rinsing, spread a towel out and lay the garment on the towel. Place another towel over the top of the garment. Press or roll the towels so that the excess water is taken up.
6. Now hang the garment up to dry or spread it out over a hanging rack. Wait till it gets dry before handling it again.
Some Tips To Handling Silk When Brightening
The process seems straight forward and cut and dry but tips help to make sure the process remains that way. Here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of the processes you use:
1. Make sure to do a test first before putting the full garment in the water mixture. Use a hidden area just in case something goes wrong.
2. When drying, never hang silks on wood hangers or wood drying racks. The wood can stain the fabric ruining all your hard work.
3. To avoid yellowing after brightening, do not place your silks in direct heat or sunlight.
4. If you need to, turn your silks inside out first before ironing. Use the cool or the silk setting to do this right.
5. When trying to get a stain out first, you can use a weak solution of vinegar and water or weak ammonia and water. The best way to do it is to take it to the dry cleaners.
6. When using dry cleaners, double-check to make sure they know how to treat silk. If they don’t go somewhere else.
Some Final Words
Silk will fade but that is not really bad news. The reason for that statement is that it doesn’t take much to revitalize the silk garment and have it looking good again. Just remember that when walking out in the sun, keep your silk away from the direct sunlight.
Silk flowers can be coated with an anti UV ray spray. That spray should help the flowers keep their colors for a year.
