A Laundress is normally hired to work for clients with extremely expensive wardrobes. Her responsibilities are to maintain and preserve fine clothing and all household fabrics. She usually needs a laundry room at her disposal with all the appropriate laundering equipment—domestic and commercial, pressing machines, different types of irons, steamers and so on.
She is an expert in all fabrics—silk, linen, cotton, wool, suede, leather, etc. She understands how to clean and care for these fabrics, including what needs to be machine washed, hand washed, dry cleaned or air dried. She uses many secret tips to make some things very special, such as the rotation of lingerie or using a refrigerator in the process of turning out an extra crisp shirt. She is skilled in stain removal, even when it involves delicate vintage linen. Her other duties include overseeing the proper cleaning and storage of seasonal garments; maintaining scheduled preparation of social function garments; light tailoring when needed; emergency cleaning of household fabrics; and liaising with tailors, drycleaners and other fabric-cleaning establishments.
