Parents Competition leotard Disaster!!! Wish me luck PLEASE!!

[Jen H.]

At this point I can only laugh, otherwise I would cry.

One of our cats apparently got locked in my girls bedroom, and during that time had to go poop...yep, right in the closet, on top of her competition wear. Leotard, warm ups, cat nailed it all. Cat scat on everything.

I threw it all into the washer and have it on delicate- if you have it in your heart, please send out some poop-removal and rhinestone staying vibes out this way.
I am terrified it will be in shreds, but believe me when I say that there was no other option.

This crazy-expensive-slip-of-a-piece-of-overpriced-material has to last another year.
I'll update later.

And OMG! If my daughter ever knew!!!

 

[gymdog]

You should be able to put it through the washer on delicate. I've washed tons of then on regular. The dryer can be pretty hard on them as is some detergent. But putting then in the washing machine on cold isn't an automatic disaster. A lot depends on the leo though.

 

[gymmutti]

Oh no! Good luck! My cat peed on the competition bag and the warmup pants for my little one. Both survived the wash. Let us know if they come out in one piece.

 

[gymgal]

Good luck but you should be fine. I put my dd's comp Leo through the washer after each meet. Has rhinestones and all. No problems. Normally I would put vinegar in the wash to take out that smell but that's too risky with the Leo. If it smells afterward, maybe some frebreeze on the inside of the Leo would help. Or washing it a second time.

I guess the big question to ask dd is why was it on the floor and not hung up?

 

[cbifoja]

I guess the big question to ask dd is why was it on the floor and not hung up?

Yep!!!!

Our beagle (RIP sweetheart) used to love to chew zippers. DD left her warm up jacket on the floor of her room once and sure enough..... Even chewed through enough of the fabric so I couldn't just do a simple zipper replacement. The natural consequence was to have to wear the jacket for the life of the cycle without the ability to zip it up.

I had to replace a comp leo last year mid season because DD spilled a dyed drink all over the white portion of the leo and it wouldn't wash out. I wanted to cry as it was year 2 of the leo cycle and I would be purchasing a leo for about 5 meets. But it had to be done because it looked horrible and she couldn't go out and represent our gym looking unwashed and dirty.

 

[Midwestmommy]

eeeeeewwwww

If you need to replace rhinestones, E6000 (with the narrowed tip to help apply) at Michaels is what the dance people use..... Make sure to ventilate though or you will get dizzy..

 

[MaryA]

DD's comp leo had crazy washing instructions that I followed to the letter for the first year. About half-way through this year, after hearing many stories about parents washing these comp leos in the washing machine, I decided to give it a try. Inside out, delicate detergent, delicate cycle. It's been coming out fine in spite of all of the rhinestones, the mesh, the washing instructions that were a page long and involved using distilled water. Now optionals coach tells me she's trying to convince the HC to use these leos for a 3rd year. If I had known that, I probably would have continued hand washing (though probably not in distilled water) for a bit longer. But faced with cat poo, I would have done the same thing you did. It really should be fine. Let us know how it turns out!

 

[cbifoja]

You can definitely tell a difference at competitions of who is washing their leos a lot (or poorly) compared to those who aren't.

I haven't washed DD's leo all year. She wears an under leo thing so her comp leo never touches her nether regions and since she isn't in puberty, there's not a lot of body sweat or other big girl issues to affect her leo.

Now that season is over, I do think I will go ahead and run it through a cycle before storing it for the off-season. I'm a little worried as ours are white and black and I heard one mom say that her DD's had bled some. Yikes!

 

[Jen H.]

All is well, Leo survived.

 

[Seeker]

Woo hoo! I am glad all is well. I'm sure your heat was racing!

 

[my4buffaloes]

That had to be scary! I too would have panicked! I wash my girls leos about every other wearing in the sink with woolite. I used to be too scared to do that, but now I insist.

 

[Seeker]

Yes, I hand wash and roll lightly in a towel to get the excess water out and then hang to dry. So far, no issues.

 

[Tami222]

Oh no I deff would have done the same thing and hoped for the best too ;( damn cats as I write I can still get a faint hint of when my cat pee on my micro fibre couch (that doesn't fit in the washer ) lol goodluck with the Leo hopefully it survives and daughter never even knows

 

[iwannacoach]

Sounds like a happy ending to what could have been a bad case of "cat scat fever."

 

[twinmomma]

With the exception of the whole "distilled water" thing (I sort of assumed that was geared towards those who might have well water), I've followed the ridiculous instructions on DD's competition leo. Hand wash, cold, woolite, roll in towels, hang in front of a fan, do a dance, touch the ceiling, turn around 50 times and say 10 hail mary's. One whole sleeve is mesh/sheer and even with the intense care I'm taking the sheer arm is fraying a bit. We'd never be able to get a second season out of this leo because it's barely fitting her now, but I'm so irritated with how horribly these hold up.
When I hang it up in front of the fan I'm always stressed the cat's going to use it as a claw toy, but so far so good. Her pooping on it would make me SO MAD!!!

 

[MaryA]

Hand wash, cold, woolite, roll in towels, hang in front of a fan, do a dance, touch the ceiling, turn around 50 times and say 10 hail mary's.

Yes! Those are exactly the directions DD's has! Is it Dreamlight? DD's has a ton of mesh on it and it's not fraying at all, and we're in our 2nd year with it (and we actually bought someone else's leo in the next size up over the summer so I can't vouch for how well the previous owner followed the washing instructions). I did buy distilled water for all of last year and the first half of this year. We don't have well water but we do have very very hard water.

 

[twinmomma]

Yes! Those are exactly the directions DD's has! Is it Dreamlight? DD's has a ton of mesh on it and it's not fraying at all, and we're in our 2nd year with it (and we actually bought someone else's leo in the next size up over the summer so I can't vouch for how well the previous owner followed the washing instructions). I did buy distilled water for all of last year and the first half of this year. We don't have well water but we do have very very hard water.

I don't remember the brand, but I would guess it's the same. I honestly think PART of the reason it's fraying is because DD is 8 years old and very small and was between sizes so they went with the smaller of the two (4/6) and if she happens to grow at all between now and the end of the season we're in trouble LOL.