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With winter here, most of your summer essentials will remain in your wardrobe only to be pulled out when summer arrives next year. If you don’t want to be in for a rude shock when summer arrives, you need to ensure that you’re storing your clothes the right way.
Just as you care for your winter essentials, it’s necessary to care for your summer wear too. Here are some tips to help you.
Go Through Your Summer Clothes
Your much loved summer clothes like that pair of shorts or your favorite tank tops can be paired with your winter apparel to create new and varied outfits. Go through your wardrobe in detail and separate items that you will be using during winter and those that are strictly summer wear. This leaves you with lesser items to deal with.
This is also a great chance to identify items that you won’t be wearing at all and get rid of them. Again, doing so will mean a lot lesser work and you’ll also have more room for all your things.
Examine Items That You Need to Put Away
Check all pieces of clothing one by one for any stains, dirt marks, or snags. Mend whatever you need to and use a stain remover wherever need be.
Always launder clothes that you need to store for long. Even if a piece of clothing was worn for just a few hours or seems to be virtually clean, launder it before you put it away. Minute soil or food particles may not be visible to you and these can permanently stain clothes if you leave them dirty. This also attracts insects and you certainly don’t want that to happen!
Laundering all items will prevent any odors from seeping into other clean clothes and you’ll have a ready-to-wear wardrobe when summer arrives.
Make Sure the Storage Area is Clean
Once you’ve cleaned your clothes and dried them well, don’t be in a rush to put them away. The closet or storage area needs to be clean too. You might want to vacuum the area or wipe it down with a disinfectant cleaner.
If you happen to spot insect, mold, or mildew infestation, deal with the problem in the right way before you store your clothes in there.
If you’ll be making use of storage bags or boxes, they’ll need to be clean too. Fabric storage bags can be laundered before you use them.
Fold, Hang, or Box
Some clothes will do well when hung, others may need to be stored lightly folded, yet others can sit in a box without being damaged. Whether you use hangers to hang your clothes or choose to fold them and place them in boxes, always store clothes in a cool, dark place.
Use hangers to keep linen, cotton, and rayon fabrics wrinkle-free. Padded hangers will keep fabrics such as silk, satin, chiffon, taffeta, and velvet from slipping. Jackets, blazers, and overcoats should be hung on curved suit hangers as these help maintain shape. You’ll find a variety of hangers by manufacturers like OnlyHangers to suit different purposes.
Make sure the hangers you use are clean. Avoid hanging clothes with heavy embroidery or embellishments as their weight can distort the clothes.
Choose clear plastic boxes to store your clothes. A cedar box or old suitcase will also work. Avoid storing your clothes in a cardboard box as it can attract pests and moths. Clean the box and line it with acid-free tissue paper before storing clothes.
You may want to use cedar blocks or sachets to keep pests away. Place acid-free tissue paper on the top of the clothes and the cedar block or sachet on it so that it doesn’t come in contact with your clothes. Avoid packing clothes tightly; use more than one box instead of over-filling so that air can circulate.
Don’t Forget Your Summer Hats
If you think you are doing enough by letting your hats hang on a rack, think again. Pegs and racks are great for displaying your hat collection. When stationed just near the main door, they help ensure that you never leave your house without a hat on. But letting your hats hang for long periods of time can cause them to change shape.
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The best way to store your hats is to place them in hat boxes. If you just don’t have the space for hat boxes, continue using the rack; just make sure that the pegs aren’t pointy or else they’ll dent your precious hats.
Never leave your hats in enclosed, heated areas such as your car or next to hot surfaces like lamps or fireplaces. Heat can cause your hat to shrink or change shape. Furthermore, hats should always be laid on clean, dry surfaces so as to not stain them. When placing a hat inside a hat box, be sure to place it upside down on its crown. Placing a hat on its brim will result in a flattened brim.
Before you put away your hat, leave it to air-dry for a day or so. This will keep moisture-loving moths and other organisms away from them. Use lavender to keep your hats smelling fresh as well as to keep moths at bay.
Conclusion
Taking care of your summer essentials isn’t difficult at all. By following simple tips given here, you will be able to keep your summer wear in top shape.
Additionally, storing summer clothes in a proper place means you know exactly where that yellow dress is. So no more spending endless minutes taking down your entire wardrobe to look for it when the sun comes out shining! By storing your summer wear properly, you are essentially organizing your wardrobe. Have fun doing so!
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