Lingerie Tips: Washing Your Lingerie and Stockings

Are you unsure about how to care for your lingerie and Stockings? In this article, I reveal my hints and tips for ensuring your underpinnings stay pristine for as long as possible.

If you're new to retro style hosiery, or hosiery of any kind, then the terminology can be confusing - but help is at hand!

Check out our guide to hosiery and all will be revealed.

At What Katie Did, we always recommend hand-washing your lingerie and hosiery. This goes for any quality lingerie and hosiery you want to keep looking as good as possible for as long as possible.

I have to admit, I do have some lingerie for example, sports bras and the underwear I wear to the gym, that goes in the washing machine, but anything remotely fancy that I wear on a day-to-day basis, I hand-wash. To begin with, this actually sounds like quite a chore, but I actually find it very relaxing to spend half an hour on a Sunday afternoon washing my lingerie.

So why can't we just throw it in the washing machine? And what about all these lingerie bags you can get to put your lingerie in the washing machine?

The mesh lingerie bags will protect your lingerie from getting tangled and twisted, especially bras, with other pieces in your washing machine, but that's about it. They won’t protect from picking up any other colours from the other garments in your machine and it's so easy to ruin your favourite bra this way.

I should quickly mention stockings. If you're new to sheer stockings, the last thing you want to do is put your stockings in the washing machine.

Something I do to prevent my lingerie getting mixed up with my washing is to separate it with care! You'll need to grab an old pillowcase to use for your lingerie and nylons instead of throwing it into your laundry basket with the rest of your laundry. This ensures that it won’t get damaged and won’t find it’s way into the washing machine by mistake.

I use a gentle delicate laundry detergent, in my bathroom sink, with warm water. I like Ecover because it's environmentally friendly, but of course, you can use any you like. If you're feeling particularly fancy, you could use the shower gel version of your favourite perfume and that makes everything seem very luxurious. Don't use normal washing powder, because not only does it not dissolve easily but it's also very harsh to your hands and you end up really dry hands.

Start with the lightest colours first moving onto the darker colours. Sometimes I need to change the water, sometimes I don't, depending on how much I'm washing. With stockings, do give the feet an extra rub as they often get quite dirty. Also, check your nails before you wash your nylons because the slightest little snag can hitch your stockings when you're washing them.

There has been a little bit of controversy about how often you should wash your bra. I know Vivienne Westwood, the designer who I'm a huge fan of, she basically said, she

doesn't wash her bras very often at all and she just dusts them down and puts them back on! I also recommend you wash matching sets together because then if it does fade, then it will fade equally across the set. It does mean, with my fancier pieces, I really only wear the bra once before washing.

Once you’ve rinsed your lingerie and nylons, it’s time to hang up to dry. While I hang my lingerie outside on the washing line to dry if it’s a nice day, I always hang my stockings up indoors as they are so long it’s easy for them to get hitched on the washing line on a breezy day. Hang your stockings up by the toes. And don’t be tempted to drape over a radiator or some-such as this can cause hitches half way up the leg.

The good thing about stockings is that, because they're so sheer, they will dry overnight. If you only have a couple of pairs, that's really all you need because you can dry them overnight and wear them the next day.