So many of us get our desi clothes from Pakistan … they are expensive .. and in most cases really delicate colour wise, kaam wise and material wise …
So how to wash them without destroying them? would you just dip them in soapy water and take out and cleanse in clean water , dry them? or would you get them dry cleaned? or steam cleaned ?
I tried getting one of my dressed dry cleaned , but it got destroyed … the kaam on it , went black :no:
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Ammi takes care of it :sid:
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lucky you , LP 
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how do u deal with the tanna (when the work rubs against the material and messes it up)?
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sigh... yeh. kaam walay clothes are a hassle. even non kaam walay sometimes. like i have this chiffon suit, the chiffon was my mum's and it's gorgeous silk chiffon - dark pink with a white print. so i had it made and after wearing it a few times it needed washing obv. so i dipped it in cold salt water but still the colour ran from the lining (my mum's chiffon was fast but obviously the lining dyed in pakistan to match, wasn't) and stained the white pattis a bit :'(
and for kaam walay, if it's chiffon, it hates water, it will always shrink a bit and go weird around the kaam, it's never the same again. i don't find dry cleaning any good either. anyway, i have resorted to not washing them. if they really need it, i will carefully just wash the armpit area. sounds gross, but that's fancy suits for you, if you want them to stay looking good, you can't really clean them.
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how do u deal with the tanna (when the work rubs against the material and messes it up)?
Do you mean whilst wearing or washing?
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You can go over kaam with a transparent nail polish.
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Do you mean whilst wearing or washing?
Whilst wearing
You can go over kaam with a transparent nail polish.
Is there anything u can put on the material tht has already been damaged by the kaam?
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ergh , its so frustrating CE , mine have that problem .. the area has gone all rough just after two wears .. I dunno what can be done though ...
Stoppit , try steam cleaning the kaam walai kapray ... I have this travel steamer at home .. and I just hang the kaam walay kapray and steam them .. that way they get ironed too and to some extent they get cleaned too ...
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Hey CE, the recommendation jalpari gave is to do before the first wear to put a glaze over the kaam that might catch. It's generally from unravelling salma work or the claws holding diamantes. I use a fabric glue that dries clear.
There's not much you can do after it's been ruined. Carefully cut all the threads and protect the kaam so it doesn't happen again?
CB- Yup, I do that anyway, but hang the outfit up and just press the steam button on the iron repeatedly... lol.
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stoppit that just gave me a funny image , you holding up the dress and pressing the steam button on the iron … what these kapray make us do
Question is , when we put the transparent nail polish over the kaam , doesnt it take away the shine of the kaam and the diamonte’s?
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This is gonna sound weird but if the kaam has roughened the cloth then shave it with razor.Use ur own assessment whether to do it or not depending on the material and the damage already done.
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ill tell what my mother does for chiffon clothes ,use a really mild soap and just dip the cloth in it and then gently and delicately rinse it immediately and press it in a towel to get rid of etra moisture.Then either ask hubby,sister or use ur imagination,hold the kameez from daman and ask somebody to hold its galla /shoulders ,what i do is i put its galla n arms on the table and put something heavy like a glass of water on it, to hold it in place.After this u gently move the daman up n down like they do in those basant n bahar songs n continue doing it till the shirt dries.It l prevent it from shrinking.
as for kaam ,avoid using any perfumes,deodarents or body powder on it ,i know its difficult but can always sprinkle some body spray or perfume on ur body before wearing really delicate n kaam walay kapray.
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Heavy desi clothes are soaked in soapy water and hand washed carefully. Colors that bleed are also hand washed and if the suit bleeds onto itself then it is soaked in oxiclean water overnight, has worked like a charm every time so far. People also swear by Shout color catcher sheets but I haven't personally used them.
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Guac , thats oxiclean water? 
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Sorry if I confused you, I meant that the clothes soak in a Oxiclean (stain remover powder) and water mix
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aah ok , thanks for sharing that :)