DIY Dry Clean Only at home naturally

I'm gathering up some information on cleaning Dry Clean Only clothes at home.  I'm curious, what are your tips, tricks, and questions about caring for Dry Clean Only clothing at home, using natural, safe, traditional, stuff we find around the house?  

Hello permies, All my life I have ignored "dry clean only" tags on clothing. I go by what the material is!! I always wash in cold & hang, or block dry, things come out great. I've washed rayon, wool, silk, & mixes this way & never had trouble. Wool may need a bit of hand stretching when wet, & will shrink ever so slightly with each wash, so best to air out in sunshine between washes to lessen the number of times needing to be washed. Fresh air & sunlight does wonders for naturally cleaning clothes.
  On another note, if you burn something in a pot in the kitchen & you can't scrub it clean, my friend gave me the advice to leave it outside for a year, bugs, bacteria & time will clean it for you!! I have saved many stainless steel pots this way, they look sparkling clean, & I'm getting better at not walking away from the kitchen with burners on!!

i also ignore them, have always washed that stuff either by hand in the sink or, if need be, with a sponge to get off any weird spots. stink can be addressed by spraying with vodka and putting outside to air-- works for shoes too.
another important thing for all clothes, not just dry cleaned clothes, is that letting them air after wearing can help you get many, many uses out of them between washings. I learned that from a person who sold rare vintage jeans and (gasp) never washed them.

I'm going to agree, with caveats, with the two before me. I don't dry clean unless there's an absolute necessity.
Thanks for friends who cosplay and a history with the SCA Inc., I have a lot of experience with "dry clean" only labels and what they really mean.
What they really mean is ; liability on behalf of the manufacturer of the clothing/fabric. For some fabrics, Dry Clean Only is the safest way to avoid potential damage from people who don't know how to take care of spots and stains, or who don't know how to do laundry and all the steps involved. Pressing, ironing, and knowing how to wash clothing is not something a lot of people bother to learn and so, clothing manufacturers play to that lowest common denominator.

The only things I have professionally cleaned these days are furs, once a year, if I use them, and clothing pieces that can't be replaced - my wedding dress, my husband's letter jacket, a USN pea coat in wool. Everything else that I can think of gets washed in water with soap, rinsed well, and blocked. Or tossed in with the other things and left to fend for itself - it depends on what it is, how it's used, and what it's made out of.

I will spritz the fake fur cloak, lined with wool, with isopropyl alcohol or vodka. I will take silks that I borrowed for a special occasion to the dry cleaners. Otherwise, yeah. Cold water, gentle cycle or by hand, rinse well in more cold water and hang/block.

If I'm sewing fancy stuff for myself, I toss fabric into the washer at whatever setting I think is most probable for it's future life. I have "shocked" fabric by tossing it into hot whites, if I think it's likely that at some point someone will forget and throw it in with things that are washed with hot water and/or bleach. That way the worst possible has already happened to it and I can freely create a thing without worry.  

Tereza... don't spray with vodka. Drink the vodka and spray with distilled vinegar; ...Makes laundry day much more inviting

Regular soap works as well as detergent to clean clothes. It removes sweat smells better than laundry detergent, I find. In fact I once spot-cleaned the underarms of a cotton indigo-patterned top for smell, but once it dried, I found that the soap had brightened the white spaces between the blue pattern so much that the upper half of the shirt looked different from the bottom half and I had to rewash it, covering the entire thing with soap to even it out.

I'm talking about the bars of soap that I keep on the side of the sink or shower. I'm not sure if brand makes a difference. And I'm talking about hand-washing. I don't know if this is better than detergent or commercial 'gentle laundry' products, but anyway it's another piece of info for you.

A friend of mine knitted me a beautiful neck warmer/cowl with a fluffy thick gauge wool yarn. Since it was going to be against my neck and would need to be cleaned, she recommended that I hand wash it occasionally. Her instructions were to use a wool wash or a good quality shampoo, and add it to an already filled sink of tepid water, stir the soap into the water and then let the water still. Then gently lay the cowl onto the water and let it submerge without agitating it. Let it soak and then gently lift it out of the water. Repeat the process if needed or lay it in fresh water to rinse. Then lay it on as smooth a towel as I had and roll to get the water out without ringing it out. Lay it flat on a thin towel on a rack to dry.

She said that this kind of gentle treatment would help prevent it from shrinking and felting; She said that even running water over it could felt the yarn. I've followed these instructions a few times over the years I have had it and it has stayed in wonderful shape with quite a bit of use.

OK, I was trying to find something on another cleaning technique I have read a lot about (but haven't had occasion to use myself) which is the way bespoke suiting was traditionally cared for : the sponge and press (or steam). I'm sure Lord Peter Wimsey's man Bunter had this skill down to a T keeping Peter's Saville Row suiting in order.
Anyway, I finally found a blog post with a modern "at home" way of hand cleaning wool suiting which looks a lot like what I have read over the years:
Sponge & Press: The Ultimate DIY Suit Maintenance

Hello,
If it’s going to rain, clothes get hung on hangers and festooned on trees and bushes.
A good heavy rain gives a fair pounding to the material, sorts out most stains, and
Apres la pluie, le beau temps. After the rain, good weather, whatever that is.
In this instance, sun to dry and deal with any remaining stains. (I don’t iron, steam during the occasional steamy shower)
This method has been used for woollens, dry clean, viscose, silk etc all to good effect.
Thank you for all tips, fab.
Best, with blessings M-H