Looking After Your Bras (and They ll Look After You)!

We generally forget how important it is to take care of our lingerie, although we all take considerable care of ensuring that specialist items of clothing such wool, cashmere are washed correctly!! Looking after you bras/lingerie will ensure that they last longer and feel as good as the day you first bought them. Here are a few tips to keep your lingerie in tiptop condition:-

- the care/washing labels attached to your lingerie must ALWAYS be followed;

- hand wash your bras;

- always use mild detergent;

- fabrices such as lace, embrodiery, binding and elastic can be damaged by hot water so use cool water;

- dry flat;

- in fear of damaging the wires keep away from direct heat such as radiators and tumble dryers;

- if you need to wash your lingerie in the washing machine, we would advise you place all garments in a suitable coloured lingerie bag - NEVER tumble dry your lingerie.

If you do not follow this simple guide then these delicate items will suffer!! The fabric can shrink; the wires can become misshaped and be pushed through the fabric.

It is imperative to use cool water as this will help keep the garments colour and will prevent white fabrics from going grey.

Considerable damage could be done to your washing machine if the wires come out of the garment completely, which can be costly to fix - both your damaged washing machine and your lingerie.

If you follow this care guide, your lingerie will stay silky soft and as gorgeous as the day you purchased it.

There are many different fabrics that make up a bra and each fabric needs its own tender loving care. Here is a short guide to the different types of fabrics used in lingerie (not an exhaustive list by any means):-

Chiffon lightweight, sheer material usually made from silk.

Cotton natural fibre and soft to touch.

Elastane synthetic fabric with high elasticity.

Embroidery adds texture and colour to garments - hand or machine embellishment.

Jacquard - different colour or texture via a woven design.

Linen - Very cool and absorbent but can crease easily.

Microfibre - water repellent, breathable and washable synthetic fibre.

Nylon - this hard wearing fabric was the first ever completely synthetic fibre produced.

Polyester - a popular fabric used for lingerie as it is strong, stretchy and extremely resilient.

Sheer - fine and transparent - very thin fabric.

Tulle - a fine net of silk, nylon or viscose.

So remember, it's not rocket science, in fact it is very simple LOOK AFTER YOUR BRAS AND THEY'LL LOOK AFTER YOU!!!!!

Copyright (c) 2007 Julie-Anne Smith

By: Julie-Anne Smith

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Julie-Anne Smith is proprietor of Amplusfigura e-commerce shop selling plus size lingerie. Log on to see the extensive range of lingerie currently available - www.amplusfigura.com