In Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara rips the velvet drapes from her windows and makes a dress out of them.  At Classic Cleaners, though, some frayed drapes came back to life under the loving care of master seamstress Ohi Suhre and are now once again a proud part of the homeowner’s décor.

Drapery care at Classic Cleaners

The set of eight drapery panels was brought in to Classic Cleaners for dry cleaning, but the edges, as so often happens with prolonged exposure of drapes to sunlight, had become weakened and “sun rotted”. As you can see in the photo, Ohi was able to finish off the outside edges of each panel. (Drapes are shown here before pressing and finishing, with the frayed edges placed across the white inside portion of the panel.)

Window dressings have been around a long time, but draperies (pleated and heavier than curtains) became popular in the late 1800’s. Interestingly, in 1950 Emily Post referred to the word “drapes” as an “inexcusable vulgarism”, advising ladies to refer to window hangings as “draperies” or curtains.

However you choose to refer to them, drapes serve several important functions:

• Block or filter light
• Provide privacy
• Frame the outside view of the home

Drapes come in four basic categories:

• Traverse drapes hang from a cord-operated rod and open and close.
• Casement drapes (sheers) are translucent, hanging close to the window.
• Inverted pleat drapes are stationary panels, closely gathered at the top and hanging loose.
• Tiebacks 
         
  At Classic Cleaners, we meticulously care for draperies of every type, from swags to jabots.
  Once dry cleaning or laundering and stain removal is done, we place the drapes on special equipment that gently dries them while pleats are refreshed as needed.

Unlike Scarlett O’Hara, you’ve probably no plans to use your drapes as dresses.  Nonetheless, they are dressings – for your windows. As part of a well-dressed home, drapes should be cleaned at least once every two years. 

At Classic Cleaners, we want to help your home make the Best Dressed list!

 By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

                                                                                                                            Talk about a dry cleaning veteran! What started out as a job between high school and college in St. Louis has turned into a highly successful (forty-six year and counting) dry cleaning career for Jackie!

Chocolates for every season with Jackie Wilson at Classic Cleaners in Clay Terrace

If you’re into chocolates and dry cleaning history, you’ll want to visit with Jackie Wilson at the Clay Terrace Classic Cleaners store in Carmel, Indiana.

Rising rapidly through the ranks of her St. Louis dry cleaning employer from customer service representative to general manager of 25 stores, Jackie arrived in Indianapolis when her husband was transferred here, immediately continuing her work in dry cleaning production management.  June 19th of this year marked Wilson’s four year anniversary with Classic Cleaners.

Asked about the most notable changes she’s seen at Classic Cleaners and in the industry in general, Jackie mentions computerization as the most significant.  The Classic Cleaners process is continually modernized and automated, in sharp contrast to the manual labeling and invoicing that Wilson recalls from earlier years.

Heat seal labeling allows each garment to be scanned in and tracked, with orders assembled and tickets printed, all through an automated process. At Classic Cleaners, the combination of human and machine is the secret behind the quality.  Each week a quality control random check is performed, and the report is reviewed with production staff. When garments are checked in, every button is unbuttoned in preparation for later pressing.  The pockets on each garment are carefully checked for items that might be damaged or lost – or which might stain the garments themselves. Jackie is particularly proud of the compliments she hears every day about the wonderful job Classic Cleaners is doing on men’s shirts.

Jackie’s home, which she shares with her husband Jim (owner of the Altra I Collision body shop), is just across the way from her Classic Cleaners store in Village Farms. Many of her Village Farms neighbors have become loyal customers and fans.

Looking back over the years, Jackie has noticed changing trends. For one, people don’t keep clothes as long as they used to. In her early career days, she recalls, people owned separate suits and dresses for winter and for summer, and dry cleaners often offered winter storage services. Today it’s more common to find people wearing lightweight fabric blends year-round.

Jackie keeps up with the seasons, though, doing it with chocolates! You can always tell which holiday is soon to arrive by the assortment of chocolates on the counter at her store.  ! If you should ever get chocolate on your clothes, though, ‘fess up, pleads Wilson. Telling the truth to your dry cleaner about stains pays off in terms of successful stain removal!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Andretti Race Team uniforms at Classic Cleaners

When the Andretti Auto Sports racing team was looking for the best dry cleaners in Indianapolis to take care of their racing uniforms, their manager made it clear they meant the best green dry cleaners in Indianapolis.

Since the Andretti team is highly environmentally conscious, their managers were happy to learn that Classic Cleaners was the first dry cleaners in Indianapolis to earn the designation Certified Environmental Drycleaner from the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute.

Classic Cleaners veteran Lorraine Rork (manager of the Bash Street store) took the lead on the ambitious project, organizing the pickup and delivery of the garments. The specialty laundering job includes 75 fire suits along with special flame-resistant underclothes and socks for the race team, plus nearly 200 garments for pit crews and other Andretti staff.  Golf shirts for the team are turned in with each order along with the uniforms.

Each of the Andretti garments is labeled with an individual’s name, beginning with the four principal drivers Tony Kaanan, Danika Patrick, Marco Andretti, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. The racing uniforms are made of a polyester-like, quite heavy, flame-retardant fabric called Nomex.  The undergarments and special socks are made of a special cream-colored cotton fabric (Now you know the “inside story”!).

Lorraine Rork considers the Andretti assignment one of the most exciting she’s handled in her more than twelve years with Classic Cleaners.  She’s become a regular racing fan, keeping track of the Andretti Auto Sports team’s latest two July competitions in Canada, and looking forward to cheering them on (from her Bash Street desk) as they compete in Lexington, Ohio next week and in Sonoma, California and Joliet, Illinois later this month.

It’s always a race for the Andretti team. Meanwhile, though, Classic Cleaners takes extra time and special care to protect the environment while producing top-quality cleaning results. It’s not easy being green, but Classic Cleaners knows how important it is to constantly monitor environmental issues and best practices.

It’s a green light all the way to the finish line for the team of Andretti Auto Sports and Classic Cleaners!

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

January 23, 1995 : Love, Honor, Cherish, reads the inscription embroidered on the blanket given to Rick and Regina Mattson to mark the occasion of their wedding fifteen and a half years ago.  But, while Rick and Regina continued to love, honor, and cherish each other, time had been less than kind to their blanket, as Regina discovered to her horror a few weeks ago.

Regina's wedding blanket before restoration

A gift from Rick’s parents, the blanket had been displayed in an honored spot in the entryway to the Mattson home, with a stuffed toy holding it in place. But, over the years, the white blanket had gradually yellowed, and streaks of gray had collected on the hem.

Regina's blanket after Classic Cleaners' restoration

Regina, manager of Classic CleanersStore #12 at 11202 Fall Creel Boulevard, rushed to have the blanket dry cleaned, only to learn that the yellowing had persisted.  Leon Neal came to the rescue, using heirloom restoration techniques to return the blanket to its former glory.

Formerly employed by a construction company, Regina Mattson came to work at Classic Cleaners last November.  She reports she “absolutely loves” her great customers and all the support she receives from management, in particular from district manager Dee Godwin.

Now, with her wedding blanket restored, Regina is glad to provide her very own “testimonial” to the talents of Classic Cleaners’ professionals!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Commenting about mistakes, well-known author and sales trainer Zig Ziglar had this advice: “Some of us learn from other people’s mistakes.  The rest of us have to BE other people!”Of course we know everyone makes mistakes. But since the professionals at Classic Cleaners work hard to remain the best dry cleaners in Indy, we don’t want our customers to be making garment care mistakes other people learn from!

Deteriorated wedding gown

Knowing that wedding gown restoration is a specialty at Classic Cleaners, a customer brought us a dress in hopes it could be restored.  Unfortunately, too much time had passed; too much damage had been done. As you can see from the photo, the sleeves of the dress had already deteriorated and were starting to come apart.  Mildew had rotted the front area of the garment. We needed to break the bad news to the owner that, while it was possible that the original color of her dress might be restored, the fabric would not hold up under  total stain removal treatment.

What “O.P.M.” lessons can be learned from her story?
 
Never put away a garment with stains (even if you suspect something might have been spilled on it).

Exposure to any of these can set the stains in and cause deterioration of the fabric:

• The warmth of a closet or car trunk (especially when the garment is in a plastic bag!)
• Light
• The atmosphere
• Insects
• Heat
• The wrong combination of chemicals
• Rubbing

Always tell your dry cleaning professional if there has been a spill, even if there’s no sign of a stain. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to recall the important information your dry cleaner needs to treat your garment.

While the wedding gown could not be fully restored for wear, the technicians at Classic Cleaners were able to gently clean the gown and preserve it in one of our archival wedding gown boxes.

(See, Zig?  We’re offering our Classic Cleaners customers every O.P.M. opportunity to learn about garment care  the easy way!)

Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

TV reality show In A Fix highlights do-it-yourself home repair disasters – moldings that don’t reach to corners, paint colors that bleed through, wallpaper run short one panel shy of a room – you name it.

At Classic Cleaners, our technicians see more than their share of do-it-yourself stain removals gone bad. There’s nothing wrong with trying to save money on dry cleaning bills.  The problem is that using the wrong chemical – or the wrong balance of chemicals – may mean permanently setting a stain instead of removing it.

Products typically recommended on do-it-yourself stain removal websites include:

• Borax powder                                                               
•  Cream of tartar and lemon juice paste
•  Rubbing alcohol
•  Baking soda
•  Club soda
•  Salt
•  Non-oily hairspray
•  Dish detergent
•  WD-40

The most dangerous do-it-yourself products of all are those claiming to take any stain out. We at Classic Cleaners have one word for those: NOT!  That’s because alkaline is needed to take out acid stains; acid is needed to take out alkaline stains.  You can’t have it both ways and achieve the desired neutral – a Ph of 7.

Mrs.CleanUSA.com’s.advice about removing permanent marker stains from carpet comes in three stages:

• Stage One: Use rubbing alcohol or hairspray, blotting up the ink with a white towel.
• Stage Two: Get advice from a professional carpet cleaner
• Stage Three: (last resort) Cut the stain our.  Cut clean carpet from an inconspicuous place such as a closet and glue it where the stained carpet was.

When it comes to articles of clothing you care about, we highly recommend going directly to Stage Two, turning the problem over to the professionals at Classic Cleaners!

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Heirloom toy dinosaur

Dinosaurs haven’t roamed the earth for 65 million years – except for one very special one, that is, who showed up at Classic Cleaners last month. According to the Guardian, most dinosaurs did well to survive thirty years; our Classic Cleaners’ find was fifty years old!

So what’s the story? The dinosaur is a stuffed animal given to our customer fifty years ago as a birthday present from her brother.  Now, she would like to give it to her grandson, so she asked the professionals at Classic Cleaners for help cleaning and repairing the creature. As you can see, our dino friend survived handsomely!

To preserve treasured heirlooms of any kind and of any age, we use the same advanced technology and techniques we employ for wedding gown restoration, carefully cleaning, treating, and repairing each item to bring it back to life. Dino is not only prepared for immediate enjoyment by our client’s grandson, who knows? He may bring joy for generations to come!

In a different restoration assignment, a Classic Cleaners’ customer brought in a once-beautiful pair of cloth-trimmed shoes.  Because the shoes had been stored for fifteen years in plastic, the leather on the shoes had turned the lace overlay yellow.  While we normally don’t recommend preservation for shoes, this pair, we were informed, held great sentimental value. With expert and painstaking hand treatment, our Classic Cleaners technicians were able to bring the shoes back to their former beauty.

Before

Shoes after restoration

At Classic Cleaners, we try to bring beauty back to the eye of every beholder!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

“Patriotism is at the heart of Girl Scouts” , according to Deana Potterf, Director of Communications for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. Two years ago, the girl scouts in Junior Troop #2019 in Carmel adopted the 38th Military Police Company of the Indiana National Guard, then in the process of deploying from Camp Atterbury to Iraq. This year, for the second time, Troop #2019 held a Beanie Baby drive, sending the toys they collected to their adopted military unit to hand out to Iraqi children as a token of friendship.

Girl Scout Troup #2019's Beanie Baby Drive

Patriotism’s at the heart of Classic Cleaners as well. The Classic Cleaners store in the Village of West Clay serves as the donation site for Girl Scout Troop #2019 Beanie Baby drive, with Classic Cleaners partner Carl Arnold supplying funds to support the shipment of the toys to Iraq.

The U.S. flag that was presented to Classic Cleaners and to Carl Arnold is very special.  The flag was flown over Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah, Baghdad during a time of hostile fire. It “bears witness to the detainment and suppression of terrorist forces”.

Earlier this year, Classic Cleaners West Clay served as the collection site for Girl Scout Troop #2019’s Operation Cookie Drop.  The Girl Scout cookies sold through that program go to Camp Atterbury for the enjoyment of the thousands of soldiers who are processed and trained there each year, and who go on to serve all over the world.

Why does Classic Cleaners contribute to worthy organizations such as Dress For Success Indianapolis and Girl Scouts? Simple!  It’s our way of showing our appreciation to society and of giving back!

Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

One of our newest customers called with a question: Could we get A LOT of bubble gum out of her son’s baseball uniform?

Classic Cleaners District Manager Dee Godwin to the rescue!  The result: one very clean baseball uniform, one very happy customer, one very happy young baseball player.

Baseball jersey with bubble gum

Baseball jersey ready for the game - no more bubble gum!

Funny thing, while chewing gum goes all the way back to ancient Greece (Greeks chewed resin from the mastic tree) and Mayans (who chewed the sap of the sapodilla tree), bubble gum itself was discovered by accident in 1928.  Walter Diemer was experimenting with different gum recipes when his mixture began to form bubbles.  Diemer brought some of the gum to a grocery store to test the market, teaching the salespeople how to blow bubbles so that they could, in turn, teach the trick to customers.  All the gum sold in one day, and the rest, as they say, is bubble gum  history!

Each brand of bubble gum has its own unique formula.  But blowing bubbles, as Michael Russell explains in The History of Bubble Gum, has become a tradition with friends and families.

Bubble gum, though, can turn into a problem when it connects with hair or clothing. Ehow.com recommends applying ice directly onto the gum for about 15 minutes, or until the gum is frozen solid.  Sometimes, but not always, that allows the gum to be scraped off clothing or skin. 

             1st Rule of Gum: Watch where you sit . (Don’t you often wish others would watch where they spit?) 

             2nd Rule of Gum:  Scrap the scraping, which can leave marks and even tear fabrics.

For a “home run” in removing unwelcome substances and stains from your clothes, leave the job to the professionals at Classic Cleaners!

Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Dress For Success Indianapolis Clothing donations

More than seven years and 100,000 suits and blouses later, we’re proud to say Classic Cleaners’ partnership with Dress for Success Indianapolis has been nothing but successful .

The April 17th “Super Sort” at the Classic Cleaners Bash Street plant is just one aspect of the ongoing partnership between Classic Cleaners and Dress For Success Indianapolis. DFS Indianapolis staff members, volunteers, and interns gathered Saturday morning to help sort the donated clothing and prepare it for delivery to the Dress For Success boutique at 820 North Meridian.

Susie Fucik, Professional Women's Group Program Manager, Juanita Galvis, first time volunteer, Mehida Perez, volunteer

The mission of Dress For Success is “to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.”

Classic Cleaners contributes to DFS Indianapolis in several other ways as well :

• Super Sort is the culmination of Send One Suit Week, during which individuals at a local business, place of worship, or organization host a private drive.  These individuals lead an on-site collection with their co-workers, associates, family or friends to collect 1 suit, 1 blouse, and monetary donations from each person to benefit DFS Indianapolis.  For the fourth year, Classic Cleaners was a sponsor for the private drives by giving each donor a coupon for $10 off a $20 or more order of dry cleaning.
• Throughout the year, Classic Cleaners acts as a collection site, accepting interview-appropriate suits and blouses on hangers, cleaning donated garments as needed, then delivering them to the DFS Indianapolis Boutique at 820 N, Meridian. (Other items such as shoes, jewelry, purses, and accessories may be dropped off at  DFS Indianapolis during open clothing donation days.)  
       
• In August of each year, Classic Cleaners runs a special DFS Indianapolis promotion. For every dry cleaning order of $20 or more, $2 is donated to Dress For Success.  A check is presented to the organization at the DFS Indianapolis’ annual September fundraiser, “Stepping Out in Style”. In each of the the past two years, Classic Cleaners September donation was more than $13,000.

Why does Classic Cleaners contribute to worthy organizations like Dress For Success Indianapolis? Simple!  It’s our way of showing our appreciation to society and to being good citizens of the human family.

By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team