Care & Cleaning Guide
How to clean Silhouette® and sheer blinds
Silhouette® blinds hang soft fabric vanes between two layers of fine sheer. It is what gives them that floating look, and it is also why they need a slightly different touch from an ordinary blind.
Which Blind Is This For
This guide is written for Silhouette. The everyday dusting, vacuuming and cool air methods below apply equally to Pirouette®, which is the other sheer blind we fit most often. Where the air method below refers to the gap between the two sheers, a Pirouette has only one, so blow gently across the face of the vanes instead, never square into it.
The spot cleaning and professional cleaning sections do not. Pirouette is built differently, with vanes attached to a single sheer backing rather than floating between two sheers, and Hunter Douglas, the parent brand, states that spot cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning and injection or extraction cleaning are not recommended for Pirouette fabrics. If you have Pirouette, Facette® or another sheer and there is a mark on it, please call us before you do anything to it.
Start Here
The one rule that matters most: nothing goes in between
Everything else on this page is detail. This is the rule. Never put anything in between the two layers of sheer fabric on a Silhouette. Not a ruler, not a stick, not a brush handle, not a coat hanger, and not your fingers.
This is not just our rule. Hunter Douglas, the parent brand that makes Silhouette, says plainly: never insert tools or objects between sheer fabrics. The sheers are very fine, and anything pushed between them can snag a thread, pull a ladder across the face, or tear the fabric outright. In our experience that is damage no cleaning will put right.
The good news is that you never need to go in there. Moving air does the whole job from the outside.
Everyday Care
Keeping them looking new
Most of the time very little is needed. Luxaflex's own advice is that regular dusting, or a vacuum on its lowest setting, is usually enough. Pick whichever of these suits the blind.
Dusting
A feather duster or a soft, dry cloth in light strokes, with the vanes closed so you are working across a flat face. This is all most Silhouette blinds ever need.
Vacuuming
Soft brush attachment, lowest suction, light pressure, working downwards rather than side to side. Keep the nozzle just off the surface. Too much suction can pull a vane out of shape or draw the sheer in.
Compressed air
A can of compressed air, the sort sold for keyboards, is the best tool for anything sitting between the sheers. Short bursts, held roughly 15 to 25cm away, aimed into the gap between the sheers rather than square at the face of a vane.
A cool hair dryer
A hair dryer on its cold setting does the same job if you do not have a can to hand. Cold air only, and check the setting before you point it at the blind. Heat is the thing to avoid here.
Air, Safely
Compressed air and hair dryers: the limits worth knowing
Both work well on these blinds. They are also the two methods most easily overdone, so these are the limits we would give any customer who asked us on the phone.
One point of housekeeping first. Luxaflex UK's own published care sheet for Silhouette covers dusting, vacuuming, immersion washing, professional cleaning and what not to do. It does not mention compressed air or hair dryers either way. The guidance below comes from Hunter Douglas, the parent brand that makes Silhouette, whose care guidance for the North American market confirms compressed air or a hair dryer set to cool can be used on sheers, and from our own years of fitting and servicing these blinds in Scotland. Because that guidance is written for a different market, with some fabric ranges we do not sell here, please use the photo route below if you are unsure how it applies to your own blind.
Cold air only, never warm or hot
This is the important one. The vanes are a soft engineered fabric, and Hunter Douglas's caution is that heat may warp or distort delicate materials. A hair dryer must be on its cold setting, and it is worth feeling the air on the back of your hand before you start rather than trusting the switch.
Keep your distance: roughly 15 to 25cm
That is Hunter Douglas's own figure, six to ten inches, in new money. About a hand's length off the fabric. Close enough to move a fly, far enough that the blast spreads out before it lands. Held right up against the sheer, even cold air can push a vane out of position.
Short bursts, not one long blast
Move whatever you are shifting along in stages, checking after each burst. Patience does this job. Force does not, and force is what damages the fabric.
Test the can first
Compressed air cans vary a great deal in strength. Give it a squeeze away from the blind so you know what is coming out of it before you aim it at fine fabric. Follow the instructions on the can, including anything it says about keeping it upright. A can used on its side, inverted or shaken can discharge liquid propellant instead of air. That liquid is extremely cold, it can mark or distort fine fabric on contact, and it can give you a cold burn, so keep it off both. Read the label before you start.
Aim into the gap, not square at a vane
Air is meant to travel into the gap between the two sheers, which is what Hunter Douglas means by blowing gently between the fabric layers. What you are avoiding is firing it square at the fabric face of a vane, which tends to push dust deeper into the sheer instead of moving it out. With the vanes open there is a natural line running the length of the blind. Work along that.
The Common One
There is a fly inside my blind
This is far and away the question we are asked most about Silhouette, usually in the summer, and usually by someone who thinks their blind is ruined. It is not. It happens to almost every sheer blind eventually, including ours at home, and it usually comes out.
A fly gets in behind the sheer, cannot find its way back out, and ends up sitting in plain view where you cannot reach it. Which is exactly the point: you are not meant to reach it. You move it instead. Hunter Douglas, the parent brand, gives the method for insects and debris caught inside a shade as compressed air or a cool hair dryer, and is explicit that you should avoid inserting sticks, brushes or other objects into the fabric.
Please Read This Before You Start
If the blind is above comfortable reach, do not stretch for it. Use a stable, correctly footed stepladder, never overreach, never work from the top step, and do not do this on your own if the blind is high up. Remember you will have a can or a hair dryer in one hand, so you will not have both hands for the ladder, and a mains hair dryer means a trailing flex, which is one more thing to catch. A fly in a blind is not worth a fall. If the height puts you off at all, leave it and call us instead.
The method, step by step
Lower the blind fully and open the vanes. Tilt them to the open position, the one where you can see out. That gives the air somewhere to travel and the insect somewhere to go.
Work out which way is shorter. Look at where the fly is sitting and pick the nearer side of the blind. In our experience insects work their way out at the sides, so there is no sense walking it the long way.
Move it along with air. Short bursts of compressed air, or a cool hair dryer, held roughly 15 to 25cm back and aimed into the gap between the sheers rather than square at the face of a vane. It will travel in stages. Keep checking after each burst, and work it towards the nearer side. Often it will work its way clear.
A gentle tap can help. If it is sitting loose, tapping the outside face of the sheer with your fingertips will often start it moving. That one is our own tip rather than the manufacturer's. Tap the outside only. Nothing goes in between the layers, ever.
If it will not move, stop. Sometimes one has been in there long enough to stick to the fabric. Hunter Douglas's advice at that point is to consider professional cleaning, not more force. Send us a photo and we will tell you what your options are.
Marks & Spills
Dealing with a mark
This section does not apply to Pirouette®
Pirouette fabrics should not be spot cleaned. Hunter Douglas's position is that spot cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning and injection or extraction cleaning are all not recommended for Pirouette fabrics, because these methods may permanently distort or damage the fabric. If you have a mark on a Pirouette, send us a photo instead.
And check with us before anything damp touches a Silhouette
Certain sheer fabrics must not be spot cleaned at all, and the ones that must not are not obvious to look at. If in doubt, email a photograph of the blind and the mark to team@scottishshutters.co.uk and we will check it against what we know of your fabric before you put anything damp on it. If the photograph is not enough to be sure, we will tell you that too. Please do not guess this one.
Where spot cleaning is allowed for your fabric, treat the mark as you would one on a good curtain.
Work out what the mark is on. This decides everything that follows. To tell, look at the mark straight on, then move your head slowly to one side. A mark on the front sheer appears to slide across the vanes behind it, because it sits closer to you. A mark on a vane stays put against the vane it is on. Tilting the vanes slowly does the same job: if the mark travels with the vanes, it is on a vane. If it is on the front sheer, you can reach it. If it is on a vane behind the sheer, you cannot, and nothing in this section will get you to it. Do not press through the sheer to try. Stop there and send us a photo.
Blot a wet mark straight away. If the mark is wet, lift what you can immediately with a clean, dry, absorbent cloth. Press and lift, moving to a fresh part of the cloth each time. A dry cloth adds no moisture, so this one does not wait for the test below.
Then test, with the exact cloth and solution you intend to use. There is no truly hidden part of a sheer blind, because it is lit from behind and read from both sides, so pick the lowest, least looked at corner. Be aware the test itself can leave a mark you will not be able to remove, which is why you keep it small and low. Dab it once and leave it to dry completely before you judge it. If it dries with a tide line, a ring, or any change of texture or sheen, stop there and call us. Fabrics vary a great deal.
Dab, never rub. Hunter Douglas cautions that rubbing may cause permanent damage or creasing. Use a soft white cloth or sponge wrung out in lukewarm water, with a little mild, non-abrasive detergent if needed. Hunter Douglas also notes that some products with fabric covered headrails need cool distilled water rather than tap water for spot cleaning, so if your blind has a fabric covered headrail, valance or bottom rail, ask us first which applies to yours.
Let the cloth do the work. You are working on the outer sheer only. Do not press the vane back or try to support it from behind. Rest the cloth against the mark and lift, with barely any pressure at all. If the vane behind moves away from you, you are pressing too hard.
Keep the headrail dry. Luxaflex flags this with a caution and an exclamation mark in its own care sheet: "Caution: do not get the headrail wet!" Work low on the vane, keep the cloth barely damp rather than wet, and never let water run upward or track along the top of the blind. This applies to every Silhouette, motorised or not.
Dry it lowered, with the vanes closed. That is what Luxaflex instructs after washing a Silhouette, and it is the right way to dry a spot cleaned one too. Leave the blind fully down so the fabric dries in its natural shape rather than folded or rolled.
Motorised Blinds
PowerView® and motorised blinds
Many Silhouette blinds are motorised, particularly the larger ones over doors and picture windows. The rule is straightforward: keep the headrail and the motor dry.
Dry methods are the ones to reach for around a motor: dusting, vacuuming on low, compressed air and a cool hair dryer. If a mark needs damp spot cleaning, the steps above still apply, but keep the cloth barely damp, work low on the vane, and keep water away from the headrail and the motor housing entirely. Do not aim air directly into the headrail either. Run the blind down before you start, so you are working on the fabric and not near the mechanism at all. If a motorised blind needs more than a surface freshen up, that is one to leave to us.
Please Avoid
Four things never to do
Avoid: putting anything between the sheers
Sticks, rulers, brushes, coat hangers, fingers. This is the one that causes real, lasting damage, and it is always tempting when something is sitting just out of reach. Use air instead.
Avoid: warm or hot air of any kind
Hair dryers on a heat setting, fan heaters, steamers. Hunter Douglas's instruction is never to use warm or hot air, because heat may warp or distort delicate materials. Luxaflex is also explicit that Silhouette blinds must not be ironed. In our experience that leaves no safe way to press a heat distorted vane back out at home.
Avoid: getting the headrail wet
Luxaflex flags this with a caution and an exclamation mark in its own care sheet. It applies to every Silhouette, and doubly so to a motorised one.
Avoid: bleach, solvents and vigorous scrubbing
On a Silhouette, nothing stronger than lukewarm water and a little mild, non-abrasive detergent should ever go near the fabric. If that will not shift it, the answer is professional cleaning, not a stronger chemical. Pirouette is stricter still: neither home spot cleaning nor the usual professional methods are recommended for those fabrics, so call us instead.
When to Call Us
Beyond surface dust, ask first
For anything more than dust and the occasional insect on a Silhouette, professional cleaning is the proper route. Luxaflex confirms Silhouette blinds can also be cleaned by professional cleaners using ultrasound, and names one exception, the Bon Soir fabric, where its advice is to contact your supplier. If you bought the blind from us, that is us.
Pirouette is different again. Ultrasonic and injection or extraction cleaning are not recommended on Pirouette fabrics at all, so please do not book either without speaking to us first.
One thing worth knowing about Silhouette. Luxaflex's published care sheet says ingrained dirt and most stains can be removed by immersing the blind in a bath of water with a mild, non-synthetic soap powder, keeping the headrail dry, then rinsing and drying it fully lowered with the vanes closed. That is the manufacturer's own method and we are not going to pretend it does not exist. We would still ask you to talk to us before attempting it. It means taking the blind down and rehanging it, it is not an option at all on a motorised blind, and a wet headrail is exactly the failure we get called out to.
As the only official Luxaflex® Gallery Dealer in Scotland, and a BBSA member, we would far rather spend two minutes on the phone with you than see a blind damaged by well meant cleaning.
If in doubt, send us a photograph
This is the easiest way to be sure, and it costs you nothing. Email a photo of the blind and the mark to our team. We will look at it, tell you what we can see, and check your fabric against our records where you bought the blind from us. Where a photograph is not enough to be certain, we will say so and arrange to look at the blind properly rather than guess. We will not tell you a method is safe unless we are sure it is.
Taking the photo: lower the blind fully and put the room lights on. A bright window behind a sheer blind will fool a phone camera into darkening everything, so tap the mark on your screen to set the exposure on the fabric rather than the window. Send two if you can. One with the vanes closed and taken straight on, so the fabric reads as a flat surface and the mark shows clearly. One with the vanes tilted open and taken from off to the side, because that is the shot that tells us whether the mark is on the sheer at the front or on a vane behind it.
Related care guides
Where this guide quotes the manufacturer we have said so. The rest reflects our own experience of fitting and caring for sheer blinds across Scotland, and is offered in good faith to help you look after yours. Some of it, including spot cleaning in place and the use of compressed air and a cool hair dryer, goes beyond what Luxaflex UK publishes for Silhouette, and comes from Hunter Douglas, the parent brand, and from our own workshop. Fabrics and finishes vary a great deal from blind to blind, so test any damp cleaning on a small, out of the way spot first, and if you are ever unsure about your own blind, please check with us before you clean it rather than risk it. Nothing here replaces the care instructions supplied with your blind. We cannot accept responsibility for cleaning carried out at home, but we are always glad to help.
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