Taking care of DIY

There comes a moment in every DIYer's life when she/he must make a decision: how to wash your me-made garments?

Every load is a risk

Because even if you take pains to pre-wash and shrink your fabric, there's still plenty that could go wrong in the spin cycle:

• Seams could unravel
• Fusible interfacing could unfuse itself and create ripples on collars and cuffs
• Painstakingly pounded-on snaps could pop off (or buttons can go MIA)
• Jersey could pill
• The lining could shrink while the rest remains the same

And though all of these issues could come up with ready-to-wear, when you made it yourself you know the true cost in time and effort — which makes suffering any of these laundry room indignities that much more painful.

Handwashing or spotcleaning can preclude some of these issues, and avoiding the dryer is enough for others. Of course, that means you can't always rely on your dryer to get the wrinkles out:

Knowing your fabrics and how to wash them can help avoid some of the pitfalls of washing DIY. I try to avoid machine-washing anything that is lightweight or combines fabrics — and never put anything that might melt into the dryer, like this Scout tee with a pleather pocket:

Luckily, it matches the shower curtain

However, even that level of care has not been enough to avoid pilling:

Handwashing stretch fabrics does not always produce nice results:

Drooooop

 Particularly with stretch fabrics that don't have good recovery (bounce back), a good wash and dry can actually make your me-made Tee look better again. And I find that after a few wears even pants I've made from pricier fabrics need a wash to restore their shape.

I know what you're thinking: dryclean, dummy. But most drycleaners still use carcinogenic solvents, which are bad for public health and the environment. Also, I need my money for fabric, so I'm not spending it on cleaning.

How do you care for your DIY garments? Spotcleaning until it's absolutely necessary? Or throw it all in the washer and say a little prayer?