I had gotten so many things done and then I realized that my dirty wedding dress had been hanging in the closet for 10 months now. I had every intention of taking the dress to a dry cleaner and having it professionally preserved; so I got a quote from the dry cleaner for this service...
Oh, just $250-$350 to clean depending on the extensiveness of the beading plus $120-$160 to box it. Ouch! To put it into perspective my dress cost me $300 plus tax - there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on cleaning it, I could just go buy another one...it's still on sale on the website!
So I started to research how to clean and preserve a wedding dress at home and I will share my process with you.
*Disclaimer: this is my personal experience only, your experience may vary. I am not a professional and I am not responsible for any damage done to your dress by using the methods outlined here. Proceed with caution and care. When in doubt have it done by a professional!*
That being said, I love to do things myself so...I gave it a go :)
The Dress:
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| Walking through dirt and sticks |
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| And grass... |
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| See the big twig stuck on the bottom left? |
I purchased my dress from David's Bridal on sale (if you were curious it is a Galina Allover beaded lace sheath gown with empire waist (S8551) size 2 in ivory Seen here). It is a simple A-line dress with a lace overlay. The lace overlay is covered from top to bottom with white beads and iridescent sequins. Underneath is a satin fabric which is two layers thick. It has a fairly short train, some boning in the bodice, beaded trim on the top of the bodice and under the bust, and a zipper in the back.
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| I added buttons to the back and a homemade belt |
Fabrics that you should be careful with include:
Silks (Charmeuse, chiffon, crepe de chine, organza etc.) - if not made with synthetic fibers silk can shrink, it can also get water spots but if done carefully you can wash certain silks as long as the water is not hot and you use a very mild detergent like woolite or baby shampoo - regular detergent is too harsh. Natural Dupioni silk should only be dry cleaned. Synthetics are made with nylon, polyester, viscose, or acetate and are easier to clean yourself. If it is natural silk, be extra careful and do some research before you start.
Taffeta - either made of silk or synthetics, it can crease easily. Use caution as you would with silk.
Rayon (viscose or polynosic) - a semi-synthetic man-made fiber created from wood pulp that can shrink, bleed and possibly get water stains. Do not use hot water, it is preferable to use cold water. Be extra careful if it is 100% rayon, it will most likely shrink so wash at your own peril! Blends with 30% or more of a synthetic like polyester should provide enough strength to withstand gentle hand washing - but they can still shrink a little.
Tips:
Do not wring, twist, scrunch, etc. your fabric either while washing or drying. Be very gentle! Do not dry it in the dryer, hang it or lay flat to dry.
If you get some wrinkles you can hang the dress in the bathroom while you have a shower - the steam/humidity from your shower can help to loosen wrinkles. Use this method first. If that doesn't help try to iron on a very low setting being extra careful (do not do this if beading is involved!) or use a little steam; be careful with hot temperatures as it can damage delicate fabrics.
The Damage:
We had our ceremony and reception at a lavender farm outside on the grass. I had to walk along a pathway of mulch before going down the aisle so little bits of mulch stuck to the lace portion of the train. We had 'first look' photos taken at a local park where I walked through a parking lot, then some more dirt and grass. We also had photos taken in the lavender field itself after dinner so I walked in between the flower beds. Needless to say the train of my dress was dirty, covered in grass stains and full of twigs and mulch.... I stored my dress hanging in the closet for 10 months in the cloth bag that it came in (after picking off the big pieces of mulch) which was a bad idea. The staining on the train was way worse than I had originally thought once I pulled it out of the bag. I wish I had gotten to this sooner and not waited 10 months!
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| From far away it doesn't look too bad, right? |
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| Grass/dirt stains on the bottom of the satin inside |
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| Some grass stains on the lace overlay |
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| More grass stains on the shiny side of the satin |
Along the edges of the bodice on the inside was yellowing. This was from sweat/oils from the skin and underarms and from being stored too long. Aside from the yellowing and the stains on the train, the rest of the dress was in good condition and I didn't spill anything on it, yay!
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| Yellowing on bodice inside at the very top. |
The process:
My first step was to address the damage, come up with a game plan, and to gather supplies. For cleaning I used what I had on-hand in my laundry room so as to not spend extra money, you could use any sort of stain fighter you want which will not damage the fabric. Check for colorfastness, read labels and directions on the product first. I used a stain remover because of the grass stains on the train, if your dress is just dirty you may just be able to hand wash gently with mild detergent. If you spilled red wine or food on it you will have a harder time and will need to make sure you do not ruin the fabric with the stain remover you use.
Supplies:
- Gentle laundry detergent - I had Seventh Generation free & clear for sensitive skin. You can get away with regular detergent just use sparingly and read the label to be sure, but it is better to use a gentle one such as Woolite.
- Stain remover - I used Oxi Clean max force spray in the blue bottle, and I also had some Carbona Stain Devils #2 for chocolate, mustard and ketchup (they do have a grass stain one but I didn't have it)
- Clean toothbrush
- Towels
Optional or extras:
- Liquid fabric softener - You can mix a little in with the detergent water to help prevent wrinkling of the fabric
- Baby shampoo - some use this instead of detergent because it is very gentle
- Oxi Clean (powder) - careful as this reacts with metals, avoid contact with zippers, buttons, etc.
- Soft cloth for rubbing stains and spot treatments
1. Soaking
I filled the tub with lukewarm water (not hot) just enough to soak the train of the dress and I added a couple tablespoons of detergent. I placed the dress train in leaving the bodice hanging over the side of the tub (you can also hang it up leaving just the train in the water). This is because I wanted to avoid soaking any metal parts of the dress. You do not want metal parts rusting and causing discolouration on your dress fabric so be careful of the zipper, any buttons, hook and eyes, metal boning etc. When in doubt remove these items and attach them back on later or avoid getting them wet altogether. I was pretty positive that my boning was made of plastic like nylon (most boning is these days), if your dress is vintage it could be metal boning and you should remove it first if you need to clean that area.
I sprayed the edges of the inside of the bodice (where the yellowing was) with the Oxi Clean spray for spot treatment. You could also make a solution of water and detergent for this step - especially if it is not a food or wine stain. Then I let the train soak for 1-2 hours.
2. Stains
After a couple hours I came and checked on the dress, I pulled some of the bottom portion out and laid it on the side of the tub:
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| Soak the dirty portions of the dress, in most cases the train is the worst |
I sprayed the stains with the Oxi Clean Max Force spray and scrubbed with a toothbrush in circular motions right on the side of the bathtub. You could put a cloth down first with delicate fabric but I didn't need to since this polyester satin was very sturdy.
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| Scrub gently with a soft clean toothbrush |
The stains came out of the satin beautifully! I continued this process all along the train. Grab a small step stool to sit on and get comfortable...
Same section after scrubbing:
The staining on the polyester was a breeze, but on the lace overlay it was more tricky. The surface is not smooth so it was able to really set in. I used my hand underneath to support the lace and used lighter pressure this time:
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| Grass stains on the lace before scrubbing |
Some of the lace stains were stubborn so I soaked it again and tried a second time, most of them came off but there were around 3 sections that still had a bit of staining. I then tried the stain devils solution and scrubbing before I gave up and drained the tub for rinsing - I decided I would come back to them later. I scrubbed the yellowed sections on the inside of the bodice before draining the tub.
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| There was a lot of dirt in the tub after draining...gross |
I rinsed the dirt away and then gently rinsed the dress off with my shower head with cold water on a low pressure. Then I filled the tub again with warm water, this time I added some Oxi Clean powder to see if that would help with those pesky stains on the lace.
After soaking for another 30 mins or so I didn't notice much of a difference on the final 3 stains; they were very faint so I decided to just rinse the dress and finish. I did notice that I managed to get some of the bodice back wet, and this discoloured the buttons I had sewn on there. Beware of anything metal on your dress!! I didn't mind ruining the buttons and decided I would remove them before storage anyway:
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| Oops...ruined my buttons |
Now the dress is sopping wet and very heavy. This part can be tricky, be very gentle with it and have it drip as long as possible in the tub before moving to it's drying location. I used a coat hanger on the shower bar but I did have a fairly small dress with a short train, if you have more fabric to deal with it would be better to hang it carefully from multiple points to put less stress on the straps or bodice from the weight of the wet fabric. Use your imagination if you don't have a drying rack.
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| All clean! Now let it drip dry |
After dripping in the tub for around an hour, I transferred my dress to my spare room downstairs for further drying. Here I set up a table with towels to lay it out on. This process can take days, you really want to make sure the dress is bone dry before storage so take your time drying it. I laid it on towels the first night, came back and replaced the towels with new ones the next day. Then one day after that I turned the dress over after replacing the towels. Drying inside is preferred since the sunlight can damage delicate fabrics like silk.
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| Lay gently on clean dry towels |
From here I left the dress for a long time, I had intended to only leave it for a few more days to make sure it was completely dry but life sometimes gets in the way right? I had taken on the task of sewing bridesmaids dresses for a friend's wedding so the dress stayed in this closed room for at least two weeks. I had removed the towels once it was fully dry and left it on the table, later I transferred it to a hanger.
To my surprise the stains on the lace I thought I had been unsuccessful with before were no longer there once the dress was dry!
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| No lace stains! |
I didn't notice much wrinkling on my dress once it was dry, there was a little on the satin lining but I didn't mind it too much so didn't bother with any ironing or steaming. If it ever comes out of storage to actually be worn...well it can be done then! At this stage you could remove wrinkles if you have bad ones with the techniques I mentioned earlier. Just make sure your dress is totally dry before moving on to storage.
So, next in Part 2 I'll explain the process of storing the dress.
