Cleaning muslin backgrounds?

wonderer

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Hey everyone

I really need your advice on the best way to clean white muslin studio backgrounds. I have a couple that see a lot of traffic and as I mostly photograph families and kids its never long before they are covered in stains and marks.

I used to take them to the dry cleaner but they always come back a bit fresher but with the stains intact. The backgrounds, at 3 metres by 6 metres I think are just too large to be cleaned properly. I also recently tried a steam cleaner and while great for reducing wrinkles and creases it had no effect on the marks.

I do spot treat them as soon as possible after they occur but this just starts to leave splotches of clean bits and looks just as bad :bang:

It can easily be sorted in post but it does not look very good for customers coming into the studio

So how do you guys do it ? Please tell me you know of a completely free and 100 % effective method for keeping your backgrounds lovely and fresh :D
 
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A 3x6m should still go in a washing machine, which should clean it better than dry cleaning. Hang it up straight away and let it dry. Less creasing.

Really? It seems a big big for the average washing machine, also I thought washing muslin backgrounds normally was a no no :shrug:
 
Maybe take it to a launderette with the big machines?

If it's a single colour you could re-dye it maybe?
 
Ok im feeling kind of silly now as I thought just bunging muslin backgrounds in a washing machine was a bad idea. Im not sure where I got that from but its always been in my head lol
 
It's a big sheet of (poly) cotton. Ideal for machine washing.

Dry cleaning would only really remove oil based stains.

FWIW I've often chucked wedding dresses in the washing machine......
 
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