Monday, September 13, 2010

Dry Clean Only

Yesterday, I did a little thrift store shopping. As I've talked about before, I've gained a bit of weight in the last few months. Last year, I lost thirty pounds and was feeling great. I swore I would never see those pounds again, and in a fit of misplaced optimism, I threw out all of my "fat" clothes. Fast forward to today. I have gained back every single one of those thirty pounds and am getting pretty dang close to being naked. However, I am making feeble attempts at losing the weight again. I have a closet full of extremely nice clothes that no longer fit me. Because I am trying to lose weight...and because I have an entire wardrobe I would like to fit into sometime soon...I do not want to spend the money on buying new fat clothes. Hence, my trip to the thrift store.

Thrift store shopping is not for the feign of heart. There are racks upon dirty racks of clothing to be sorted through in an attempt to find that perfect gem. However, if you are lucky, and willing to do the work, you can come away with some great deals. I was at the thrift store for a couple of hours yesterday, but managed to find three very nice shirts, a brand new Tommy Hilfiger sweater, and a gorgeous pair of fully lined, brown silk-blend dress pants from Talbot's in exceptional condition. Despite the frustration of trying on piles of clothes that did not fit...and trying to NOT imagine whose body those clothes had last touched...I think it was a successful trip all-in-all.

My favorite "find" from my thrift store adventure was the silk pants from Talbot's. When I got home from the thrift store and excitedly began removing the tags, I noticed three words that made my heart skip a beat. Dry. Clean. Only. Ugh. I do not have the time in my busy schedule for dry clean only clothing. I could probably make the time, but I have greater priorities that have to be attended to. Therefore, I decided that I would simply wash the pants on a gentle cycle and let them air dry. That should work just fine, right? Wrong. Here is an interesting little factoid you may not have not known. When washed, silk shrinks. Polyester does not. The pants were a silk blend. The lining was polyester. Therefore, the pants shrunk and the lining did not. The pants were large enough on me that they could have shrunk a tiny bit and likely still fit me. However, they are unwearable now that they have half an inch of lining hanging out of the pant legs. Perhaps I will see if my mom can hem the lining. Or....a more likely scenario will be that I will call this a lesson learned and say good-bye to my $5 steal. Bye-bye Talbot's chocolate brown, silk-blend, fully lined trousers. I will miss you.

Moral of the story: "Dry clean only" means dry clean ONLY. Who knew?

2 comments:

Jen said...

O thats funny. I love going to the thrift stores and my kids do too, lol.

Dry Cleaning Delivery Service Atlanta said...

Going to the dry cleaners is a waste of time. Have you considered a delivery dry cleaning company. Many don't even charge for pick-up or delivery.

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