Not on the face of the fabric. Heat and pressure together bend the pile over and set it flat, which leaves a permanent shiny mark. Steam it hanging instead, or press from the reverse on a needle board with no weight on the iron.

How do you get creases out of velvet?

Hang it for a day first and let gravity do most of it. Then steam from the inside with the head 10cm to 15cm away, keeping it moving, brush the pile in one direction while it is still slightly damp, and let it dry hanging.

Can velvet go in the washing machine?

Polyester velvet clothing is usually cold hand wash only. A machine drum presses the fabric against itself under water and weight, which crushes the pile, and a tumble dryer sets the damage with heat.

Velvet and dresses

How to care for velvet so the pile does not crush

2 November 2026 · 5 min read

Velvet does not wear out so much as get flattened. The fabric is a dense forest of short cut fibres standing up off a woven backing, and anything that bends those fibres over at the base and then holds them there leaves a permanent shiny patch. Heat and pressure together are what does it, which is why an iron is the single most effective way to destroy a velvet dress.

What the pile actually is

Velvet is woven as two layers of cloth held apart by a dense set of threads running between them, then sliced apart down the middle. Each half comes off the loom with a surface of cut fibre ends standing upright. That upright forest is the pile, and it is the whole point of the fabric: light hits the sides of thousands of fibres rather than a flat weave, which is where the depth comes from.

Pile has a direction, called the nap. Run your hand down a velvet sleeve one way and the surface looks darker and richer, the other way it looks paler and shinier. Nothing is wrong with the fabric. You are looking at the ends of the fibres instead of their sides.

Crushing is mechanical. The fibres get bent over near the base and stay bent. On a polyester velvet, heat makes that permanent, because the fibre softens and then sets in its new shape as it cools. Most affordable velvet clothing is a polyester blend, including the velvet we sell, so heat is the thing to be careful with rather than water.

Steam, do not iron

An iron applies heat and pressure at the same time, to the side of the fabric you can see. That is the exact recipe for a flat shiny scar, and there is no iron temperature that makes it safe on the face of the pile. The mark it leaves does not come out.

Steam does half the job and leaves out the half that causes the damage. Hold a garment steamer 10cm to 15cm off the fabric, work from the inside of the garment where you can reach it, and keep the head moving. The water relaxes the fibres and gravity on a hanging garment does the straightening.

Afterwards, while it is still slightly warm and damp, brush the pile in one direction with a soft bristle clothes brush. Then let it dry hanging before you wear it. Putting a damp velvet on presses the pile flat again under your own weight, which undoes the work you just did.

If you have no steamer

Hang the garment in a bathroom, run the shower hot, shut the door and leave it 15 to 20 minutes. Do not leave it an hour. The woven backing takes up water, and a soaked backing dries slowly and can mark.

A kettle works for one small area. Hold the fabric in the steam rather than against the spout, and expect to repeat it several times instead of fixing it in one go.

If you genuinely have to press, never press the face. Lay the garment pile down onto a spare piece of velvet or a thick towel, press from the back on a low setting with no weight on the iron, and lift rather than slide. The proper tool is a needle board, a bed of fine wires that the pile sinks into so only the backing meets the heat, and it costs about the same as a cheap iron.

Washing, and why it says hand wash

Every velvet piece we list is cold hand wash and hang to dry, and that is not a hedge to avoid complaints. A machine drum folds the fabric against itself under weight and water, which is pressure, and a tumble dryer adds the heat. The two together are the worst thing you can do to a pile fabric short of ironing it.

Wash it alone and inside out, in cool water, with a small amount of mild detergent. Move the garment through the water rather than rubbing it against itself. Do not wring it. Press the water out between two towels, then hang it on a broad hanger or lay it flat on a dry towel, pushed back into shape, out of direct sun.

Spot clean instead wherever you can, because every full wash costs you a little pile. A detachable collar helps here: the doll collar dress has a removable white collar, so the part that actually gets dirty can be washed on its own without putting the velvet body through anything.

Lint, hair and the brush question

Velvet collects everything in the room. A sticky lint roller lifts the fluff and some of the pile with it, and repeated use leaves the surface looking tired and patchy. A soft bristle clothes brush, worked with the nap, does the same job without pulling fibres out.

Cat hair is the real enemy, because it works down between the fibres rather than sitting on top. A slightly damp rubber glove, or a rubber pet brush, dragged gently in one direction pulls hair out of the pile without pulling the pile out of the cloth.

Anything with a second fabric attached needs two approaches. The fishtail is velvet to the knee and lace below it, and lace wants a lint roller nowhere near it. Brush the velvet, shake the lace.

Wearing it without creasing it

Creases at the hip and the back of the knee after an evening sitting down are normal, and almost all of them drop out overnight on a hanger. Plain woven velvet shows them most. A crushed or stretch velvet shows them least, which is one of the reasons crushed velvet exists at all.

Thin straps are the worst offenders. A narrow bag strap under any weight presses a line into the shoulder pile that can take two separate steamings to recover, and on a garment with a built up sleeve head like the puff sleeve mini the mark lands exactly where everyone is looking. A wide strap spreads the load, and a bag you carry in your hand does not do it at all.

Seat belts do it too, on a long drive. If you are travelling in velvet, the honest advice is to travel in something else and change.

Questions people actually ask

Can you iron velvet?: Not on the face of the fabric. Heat and pressure together bend the pile over and set it flat, which leaves a permanent shiny mark. Steam it hanging instead, or press from the reverse on a needle board with no weight on the iron.
How do you get creases out of velvet?: Hang it for a day first and let gravity do most of it. Then steam from the inside with the head 10cm to 15cm away, keeping it moving, brush the pile in one direction while it is still slightly damp, and let it dry hanging.
Can velvet go in the washing machine?: Polyester velvet clothing is usually cold hand wash only. A machine drum presses the fabric against itself under water and weight, which crushes the pile, and a tumble dryer sets the damage with heat.