Preservation

Silk and Velvet Drapes in a Desert Climate

Fine drapery is usually the most expensive soft furnishing in a villa and the one most often ruined by a well-meaning clean.

What matters, and why.

Why they come down badly

Taking curtains off the rail is where most shrinkage, distortion and hem damage happens. On-site steam cleaning avoids the whole problem.

Velvet

Never saturated. Brushed damp in one direction so the pile lies correctly, then dried with air movement. Water sitting in velvet crushes the pile permanently.

Silk

Water marks silk. It is a solvent or a very low-moisture method, tested on a hidden section first, and there are silks we will decline to wet-clean at all.

Where dust hides

Headers, hems and the rail itself. A drape that looks clean in the middle almost always has a visible line at the top.

If this is something you would rather hand over, our specialist cleaning and restoration is scoped at an inspection and confirmed in writing before any work begins. We will also tell you when a job does not need us.

Questions

Answered plainly.

Wherever the fabric allows, and that is most of the time. It is the safer method as well as the more convenient one.

Four to six hours with air movement. We do not leave damp lining in a closed room.

Tested on a hidden section first. Where a lining is not colourfast we tell you before starting rather than after.