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speak to a preservation specialist. call 800-830-4665
speak to a preservation specialist. call 800-830-4665
Brides spend a great amount of time planning for her wedding dress - the style, the fabric, and the design. It is considered as an important item a bride purchases for their wedding. Made of luxurious fabrics and intricate beading and lace pattern, embellishments, and veil, it is indeed one of the prized items that every woman owns.
A wedding dress needs to be cleaned and preserved well to remain in pristine condition. With this, wedding dresses undergo a delicate preservation process. The most important step out of all the processes is properly and thoroughly cleaning the wedding dress. Below are the things you need to know about wedding dress cleaning.
See: YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CHOOSING YOUR PERFECT WEDDING DRESS
The type of fabric used in making the wedding dress determines the type of cleaning procedure to be implemented. There are two types of cleaning utilized by professional textile preservationists to clean your dress - the dry cleaning and wet cleaning. Below are the things you need to know about dry cleaning and wet cleaning.
Dry cleaning is considered the most common type of cleaning procedure and the go-to option of cleaners in cleaning your wedding dress. This type of cleaning is used to remove oil-based stains such as food sauces, meat oil, and perfumes. Wedding dresses that use fabrics such as rayon, silk, or acetate fabrics are best suited for dry-cleaning.
Cleaning agents such as perchloroethylene and Stoddard solvent are used to degrease the stains on the wedding dress. Because of using such chemicals, dresses that have beads and other intricate designs are not suitable for this. Extra care is needed to avoid destroying the design of the wedding dress.
Wet cleaning is another option in cleaning a wedding dress. It utilizes water in thoroughly cleaning a wedding dress. Water-based substances such as sweat and food are removed in this kind of process. Wedding dresses that undergo this process are free from residues which damage the fabric. If the fabric used for your wedding dress is silk or polyester, hand washing, or wet cleaning is suggested for this.
As the owner of the dress, you need to be keen on the processes it will undergo once it is handed to the wedding dress cleaningcompany. You need to ask questions ranging from the cleaning solvent to be used, wrap, and the material of the storage box. This is to ensure that your dress is protected well and is away from possible risks that may damage your wedding dress. Below are the tips on having your wedding dress dry cleaned.
Research and survey on dry cleaning companies in your locality to compare the services and facilities they offer and the costs. Each dry cleaning company varies in preservation costs which is very important to consider especially if you have a specific budget.
There are some companies who don’t have the facilities and proper equipment to thoroughly clean the delicate fabrics of your wedding dress. Hence, some dry cleaning companies partner with third party dry cleaning companies to aid them which adds to the costs of the service. If that’s the case, you can contact the company they partnered for the cleaning to reduce the costs of the process.
Ask the cleaning company what kind of storage box they will use after the cleaning process to ensure that your dress is stored in a box free from risks that may damage your dress.
To make sure that you chose the perfect cleaning service, you need to ask the makers of your dress on the specifics for the proper cleaning procedure it should undergo. You can also check the care label attached to the dress for the instructions.
Now that you know the different types of cleaning process for your wedding dress. It will then be subject to the proper preservation process. Below are the steps or processes would undergo if you chose to preserve it.
A professional wedding dress cleaner will inspect the wedding dress to identify stains and loose fabrics and embellishments. The detailing of the design will be carefully examined to see if it needs to be repaired or removed before cleaning.
Small parts of the fabric will be tested to see how it will react to the chemical or solvents to be used in cleaning. Wedding dress cleaners will spot clean the outer layer of the wedding dress to remove difficult stains such as wine, food, and dirt. Experts will then place it in a protective bag for soft-stain removal.
The cleaning technician will then prepare it for either dry cleaning or wet cleaning procedure depending on the instructions from the makers or the care label attached on the garment. After cleaning, it will be examined to see if there are remaining stains. The process will be repeated if there are still stains visible on the fabric. The amount of time spent in cleaning depends on the design of your dress, stains, and the damage it has.
When the dress has been successfully cleaned, the dress will be wrapped in an acid-free and uncolored tissue and will then be stored in the preservation box.
See: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEDDING GOWN PRESERVATION KIT
