“Once upon a time there were three little pigs,” begins the beloved children’s tale. Their mother had taught them, “Whatever you do, do it the best that you can.”

When a customer brought in a wolf-and-three-little-pigs costume for dry cleaning, Classic Cleaners professionals followed Mama’s advice.  Every inch of the stained costume was painstakingly hand-cleaned, readying it for the upcoming Halloween season.

We all remember what happened to the two little pigs who did not follow their mother’s wise counsel. 

The first little pig took the easiest way out, building his house out of straw.  The result: As threatened, the wolf blew the house down and had Piggie #1 for supper. (Fortunately, the costume owner in our true story did not choose the easiest way out, which would have been to toss his costume into the washing machine!)

The second little pig chose the next easiest path by building a house of sticks.  As promised, the wolf huffed and puffed and blew that house down, too, enjoying Piggie #2 for dessert. (Luckily, our costume owner did not choose the second easiest “out” by attempting to use Dryel at home or rubbing at the many stains on the costume.)

As we know, the third little pig built a brick house far too strong for the wolf to blow down.  Piggie #3 was able to invite his Mom over and share with her the way her advice had worked, and that the best way to get along in life is to do things as well as you can!

( Using the same kind of smart thinking, our customer brought his wolf-and-three-pigs costume straight to the costume-cleaning experts at Classic Cleaners, who were able to achieve a superb hand cleaning result, getting his costume ready for him to wear proudly at all the October festivities!)

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Irish solo dance dress

To find something as special as Maggie Ramsey’s “solo dress”, you’d have to fly to Europe.

Only Irish dancers who have won first prize in certain levels of dance competition are privileged to wear one like it, we learned.  

The challenge of cleaning this three-year old red Irish dance dress, made by Elevation Design, had to do with its elaborate ornamentation.  The garment is decorated with everything from metal flakes to sequins (four different kinds), and has an under layer made of red and silver snakeskin. 

The Ramsey dress seemed to combine a number of the toughest challenges dry cleaning technicians face:

• Red dyes tend to be less stable, with red garments likely to lose vibrancy faster than other colors.
• Sequins often melt with heat, so even steam-cleaning posed risks.
• There is no one method that is safe for all the different types of fabric used in that one dress – a normal dry cleaning label from the International Association for Textile Care Labeling couldn’t begin to cover all the different parts of Maggie’s solo dress.

But, by carefully combining different tools and techniques developed over decades of specialized dry cleaning

Maggie Ramsey at the 2010 Indianapolis Feis Irish Dance Competition

experience in Indiana, including compressed air, specialized brushes, steam guns, new combinations of stain-fighting solutions and more, Classic Cleaners professionals were able to create the beautiful result pictured here.

Maggie’s mom gave us permission to share her e-mail note:

I can’t thank you enough for the excellent care you took in cleaning my daughter’s Irish Dance Solo Dress. It is beautiful!  I have sent a message to all the other Irish Dance families at our academy about our wonderful experience and great the dress turned out.  If they are thinking of purchasing a used solo dress that needs cleaning or have never had their solo dress steam cleaned, they should really contact you at the Bash location Classic Cleaners.  We were very pleased with our experience.

My daughter’s name is Maggie Ramsey and she is with the Richens/Timan Academy of Indiana located at Washington Square Mall….Thank you so much.

Cathi Ramsey

With a testimonial like that, it feels as if Classic Cleaners has won the prize!

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

August is almost here, and with it comes Classic Cleaners’ August Dress For Success Indianapolis fundraiser.

 Now Classic Cleaners customers have the chance to do right by their clothes while doing right by women in our community who need a little support to help them “thrive in work and in life”.

The August fundraiser is very special, and this is Classic Cleaners’ eighth year as a very special sponsor.  Here’s how the promotion works:

FOR EVERY DRY CLEANING ORDER OF $20 OR MORE,

CLASSIC  CLEANERS DONATES $2.00 TO DRESS FOR SUCCESS INDIANAPOLIS!

A check is presented by Classic Cleaners to the DFS organization at DFS Indianapolis’ annual September fundraiser event, “Stepping Out in Style”.  In each of the past two years, Classic Cleaners’ September donation was more than $13,000!  (Won’t you help us top that this year?)

By the way, the annual August DFS promotion is just one aspect of the ongoing partnership between Classic Cleaners and Dress For Success Indianapolis.  Back in April, Classic Cleaners hosted “Super Sort” at the Bash Street plant, with DFS Indianapolis staff members, volunteers and interns gathering to help sort donated clothing and prepare it for delivery to the Dress For Success Boutique at 820 North Meridian.

August is the perfect time to organize your closets and drawers in preparation for back-to-school — or perhaps for off-to-college!  Whatever the coming fall months hold for you and your family,  your favorite outfits can be clean, pressed, and ready to make just the right impression.  Isn’t it nice to know you’ll be helping Dress For Success Indianapolis in their mission “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”?

Make a special point to take advantage of the Classic Cleaners August special!  

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Put metal edges next to clothing and what do you get? Snags.

At Classic Cleaners, we see snags of every sort.  Sometimes, a wood splinter or a broken fingernail is the culprit, but more typically, garment snags are the result of metal things that go “pinch” or “pull”.

When the prongs on jewelry are loose, not only can precious stones be lost, those loose prongs can be very bad news for clothes.  Quick! Take your ring to your jeweler, while your dry cleaning professionals make the needed repairs to your garment.

Ladies, even your not-so-precious costume jewelry, especially if it hangs below the neckline, can snag your clothing.  Earrings that dangle can cause amazing damage as clothing is pulled over the head. Gentlemen’s and ladies’ belts can include metal edging or clasps that go “pinch” and “snag”.

The jury is still out on cell phone use being bad for human health. For sure, though, cell phones can be bad for clothing: the clips on belt cell phone holders often cause snags in the waistbands of skirts and trousers. Pin-on – and clip-on – name badges at business meetings? Those can snag woven fabrics of tops and sweaters.

Metal hoops in Civil War-era dresses

Repairing fabric tears is just one of the services Classic Cleaners provides, along with patching jacket elbows, replacing buttons, fasteners, and zippers, and hemming dresses, skirts, and pants.  With our decades of combined experience, you can bet those fasteners and zippers no longer go “pinch” in the night – or in the day, for that matter! 

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team