I was with a friend this week as she dropped some clothes off at the dry-cleaners. I tried to think of the last time I had something drycleaned. it would have been many years ago and most likely was a winter coat. What about you?
I have winter coats and sweaters that are dry-clean only, and window drapes that are dry-clean only. I've hand washed all of them in the wettest water I could find and they're all fine.
^As opposed to dry water, eh? Of course. I've had stains removed plenty of times. I also had a visibly-mildewed sweater dry-cleaned, and it came out perfectly. No more white stuff, no more mildew odor. And to answer the original question: last week.
When I was working in an office environment where men were expected to wear pressed button down shirts, I sent mine out for dry cleaning all the time. Some cleaners are better than others (with one my shirts wouldn't last more than a few rounds, but with the last one I used the shirts seemed to last longer than normal). My tip is to be sure to always wear undershirts, even in the hotter months--that helps extend their lifespan. With suits, if you wear good quality undergarments and have lined pants, you can go quite a while without dry cleaning them... also depending upon how much you perspire during the day (obviously summer months aren't friendly to suits, especially the pants).
It was definitely sometime before I had kids (which puts it at least 24 years ago). "Dry-clean only" and little ones don't mix.
I guess I never have. I remember going with my mom to drop off and pick up the dry cleaning about once a month or so, but it was only for my dad's uniforms (police officer). But at some point they either stopped caring, made more durable uniforms, or had a better washing machine because after I was about 12 or so I don't remember them using a dry cleaner anymore. I liked our local dry cleaner because kids got free lollipops! As for my own clothes, I don't really own anything that fancy. I usually wear nice sweaters and some slacks to work, but they are all machine washable. There are a select few items that I used to hand wash, but it was too much work for items that I don't really care about replacing that much, so now I just throw everything in the washing machine and dryer. I own a couple of dresses that I've worn once, but they haven't needed washing yet.
Whenever I go to Vegas. I usually get everything comped at the hotel, so I figure why not get some free dry cleaning done. Besides, the only dry cleaning business near me closed shop years ago.
The only things I have that need to be dry-cleaned are couple of jackets and a few pairs of dress slacks, which I only wear to job interviews, court appearances, weddings and funerals. The last time I had any of them cleaned was years ago. (To be honest, I've never attended a funeral.) BTW, trying to save a few bucks on dry cleaning by washing clothes at home with gasoline is extremely dangerous! (Really, did people actually do that?) [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59HkjNDaMNE[/yt]
There probably were people just that stupid. Man, that thing has as many explosions as a Michael Bay movie...
Probably less than a year ago, I took all of my husband's shirts and suits in for a cleaning. It was actually not that expensive. I don't take my clothes in for dry cleaning, only Indian outfits occasionally.
Last October I think. I had my summer suits and jackets dry-cleaned before putting them away for the winter. I haven't dry-cleaned my winter suits and blazers yet, the weather is still crazy. Sometimes I think about dry-cleaning my shirts, but then the hassle of taking them out and picking them up later seems to be more than just washing and ironing them myself.
I don't own any dry clean items anymore. Though I read somewhere, long ago, that it makes velour Starfleet uniforms shrink.
Summer suits ? Winter suits ? Blazers ? I don't understand - when are an Iron Maiden T-shirt and jeans not acceptable ? I actually do own a suit - I've worn it to work once to surprise them, to one wedding (I was best man) and to three funerals, none of which were mine...