Our own Leon Neal, master wedding dress cleaner, sent me a link to a very interesting article on www.preownedweddingdresses.com: Can that dress be cleaned?

The article quotes Sally Lorensen Conant, Ph.D., who  “is the executive director of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists – a network of cleaners represented in more than 500 cities that specialize and excel in wedding dress cleaning and preservation.” Classic Cleaners is a member of this association, so it’s no coincidence that we agree with the content in this blog post!

Here are some choice quotes from the post:

As a general rule, there is very little risk to buying a stained and discolored dress made of a non-silk fiber. Almost any stain or discoloration can be removed from these.

But note that a really dingy/ shopworn non-silk gown needs to be cleaned professionally rather than “spotted out.” That’s because you may dissolve the dinge when you dissolve the stain. And spot removal will remove specific stains but leave white spots.

The truth is a good professional cleaner can remove almost any stain, but there are some things no cleaner can do:
1) repair broken fibers
2) remove yellowing from overexposure to sun or fluorescent light

Yellowing/discoloration is not usually just a spot. On a silk gown, yellow areas may mean there has been a chemical change that cannot be reversed. Even if it can, the yellow may be very difficult to remove, especially if there is also metallic embroidery in that area because chemicals that remove the yellow can turn the metallic embroidery black.

In general, very badly discolored gowns may not be a good buy. If the gown is polyester, it may be expensive to clean it properly, and if it is silk, it may not be possible to remove the discoloration.

Although the content is accurate here, I have one caveat: a lot of yellowing, perhaps even the majority of yellowing, can be gotten out of a gown. I have seen Classic Cleaners take dresses that were horrendously yellow and make them look brand new! Click on our Classic Cleaners wedding gown services category to see some examples.

It’s true that there are some stains and yellowing we can’t handle, but if you show us a gown we can almost always tell you how well it’s likely to turn out. Feel free to bring in any wedding gown–or any heirloom garment–for a free consultation!

–Matt

Recently on this blog, we’ve told two wedding gown restoration success stories:

Classic Cleaners of Indianapolis restores improperly cleaned wedding gown to glorious beauty!

Classic Cleaners restores 1947 wedding gown–beautiful bride wears it with pride!

We use the same processes in Classic Cleaners’ safe, gentle, and highly effective wedding gown restoration service and Classic Cleaners’ safe, gentle, and highly effective cleaning and MuseumCare preservation service for wedding gowns.

The main difference between the two services is this: We restore wedding gowns that have become discolored or otherwise damaged over time, and we clean and preserve recently worn wedding gowns so that they do not become damaged over time. Of course, once the gown is restored and worn again in a ceremony, it needs to be preserved thereafter to keep it beautiful for the next bride in your family.

One of the tools we use to preserve your precious gown is our archival-quality wedding gown preservation box. In this post I’m including two pictures of the box. The first is a professional photograph of the box, which, as you can see, has an inner box with a see-through window and an outer box.

The other photo is not professional (I took it!), but I’m posting it here to show you that we put our preservation boxes on display in many of our stores. In the display models, the outer box has been cut away to show the inner box, but, of course, that’s just for display.

Classic Cleaners’ archival-quality wedding gown preservation boxes have many special features to keep your gown clean and odor-free while preserving its original beautiful color as time goes by. As we say on our wedding gown preservation page (linked to above),

We layer your gown with acid-free tissue and carefully fold it into an acid-free, archival-quality preservation box. We store metal buttons and findings and shoulder pads separately, stuffing the sleeves, bodice, and folds with additional acid-free tissue to prevent hard wrinkles. The preservation box, designed especially for this purpose, allows the gown to breathe, keeping it in perfect condition for many decades to come.

The box itself is made of acid-free materials and lets your gown breathe.

We’ve earned a reputation of having the best wedding gown preservation service in Indianapolis because we take such exquisite care with your gown. For a gratis consultation on your gown, please visit your favorite Classic Cleaners location or contact us at the number below!

–Matt
The Classic Cleaners Blog Team

•For immediate help with cleaning, please call (317) 845-5244 or email us
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Who truly enjoys washing clothes at home? Here’s some good news: You don’t have to do it yourself! Classic Cleaners offers the best laundry service (fluff and fold, family wash) in Indianapolis. Here’s how it works:

• Simply take all of your unwashed clothes and put them in your Classic Cleaners laundry bags (if you don’t have your own Classic Cleaners laundry bags yet, come on in for VIP-level customer service!).
• Put items to be dry-cleaned in separate bags–we’ll take care of those for you too!
• Bring your bags into your favorite Classic Cleaners location.
• Or use our FREE home delivery route to have your laundry picked up–and then dropped off once it’s perfectly clean and fluffy!

You’ll save lots of time and hassle! Try it today–you’ll be amazed by the convenience!

–Matt
The Classic Cleaners Blog Team

•For immediate help with cleaning, please call (317) 845-5244 or email us
•Share your Classic Cleaners stories and photos on this blog
•RSS this blog

If you live in McCordsville, Indiana, you are in luck! Classic Cleaners’ FREE home delivery area covers the entire town of McCordsville.

How does it work? We’ll provide you with your own personal Classic Cleaners laundry bags–as many as you need. Into these you simply put anything and everything you need dry cleaned or laundered.

Then you just leave the bags on your front porch or similar location. Your Classic Cleaners driver will pick everything up–then bring everything back perfectly clean for you on hangers or however you like it!

Are you ready for the ultimate in dry cleaning convenience? Then please contact us today to set up your FREE service!

–Matt
The Classic Cleaners Blog Team

•For immediate help with cleaning, please call (317) 845-5244 or email us
•Share your Classic Cleaners stories and photos on this blog
•RSS this blog