Most women would agree – their wedding gown is the most important dress they’ll ever wear.  And, while all brides hope to preserve their marriage, quite a number desire to preserve the dress as well.  Why?

2009 Bride is Beautiful the 3rd Time Around in 1947 Wedding Dress

•  To wear at a ceremony to renew wedding vows
• As an heirloom for a daughter or granddaughter to wear someday.

In fact, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an heirloom as

1. A piece of property that is part of an inheritance

2. Something of special value handed down from one generation to another.

In the case of wedding gowns, though, there’s something every wedding dress owner needs to know: There’s a big difference between merely “heirlooming” a dress and preserving it for the future.

The truth is, as practiced by most dry cleaners, heirlooming a wedding gown consists of dry cleaning it and then sealing it in a box.  But cleaning and boxing a wedding gown is hardly enough to prevent fabric discoloration or the oxidization of invisible sugar stains on the dress.

That’s why, in preserving wedding gowns, Classic Cleaners uses the only process endorsed and recommended by the Association of Bridal Consultants – MuseumCare™ Preservation. Classic Cleaners partner and wedding gown specialist Leon Neal explains what is included in MuseumCare™:

• Thorough cleaning
•  Removal of sugars, salts, and acids (conventional dry cleaning methods cannot accomplish this)
• Conditioning the gown for long-term 
• Sealing in an acid-free environment
• Providing a lifetime guarantee against sugar stains and yellowing.  This guarantee is backed by more than 100 Wedding Gown Specialists worldwide.

 ”Love is lovelier the second time around,” Frank Sinatra used to croon.  Proper professional preservation can ensure that, the second – or third - time around, each wedding dress will be worn in its full loveliness!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Dry cleaning in Indianapolis is big business for Classic Cleaners, don’t get me wrong.
But, sometimes, after watching all the celebrities show off their beautiful designer clothes on TV, I can’t help wondering…who cleans those couture evening gowns after a big White House or Red Carpet event? (Tell me they don’t throw the gowns away after one wearing!)

To my relief, I read in Savvy Sugar that (apart from official dinners) every United States President and spouse are responsible for all of their everyday expenses such as food, drink, and dry-cleaning bills! Does someone keep track?  Apparently, the White House functions like a luxury hotel.  At the end of each month, the president receives a bill for food and incidental expenses.

When it comes to TV and movie stars, at least one, Ellen Pompeo of Gray’s Anatomy, was spotted dropping off a bag of clothes at a Hollywood Hills dry cleaners. And, if you should happen to visit a Hollywood dry cleaners yourself, don’t be surprised if food expert Rachael Ray is the one taking in your order.  The CBS show I Get That a Lot puts celebrities in “normal person jobs” to confuse customers, and Ray served at least one stint as a dry cleaners clerk. The show’s executive producer Ed Horwitz remarked that, since a large portion of the Rachael Ray show audience use their local drycleaners, it would be fun to put her into that environment.

 While Classic Cleaners has no plans to open a store in Hollywood, when it comes to the cleaning and restoring of delicate evening gowns, our professionals are up to the challenge.

• Hand cleaning: Each gown is treated individually, while protecting beads, embroidery, lacy, and sequins.
• Anti-sugar stain treatment: Often stains from sugar, salt, and acids dry clear, These stains cannot be initially be seen, and do not disappear with normal dry cleaning.  Over time, though, the stains can turn an ugly brownish-yellow.  At Classic Cleaners, your gown will be given a complete anti-acid conditioning.
  
  Gloved handling and Inspection: Each gown is lovingly protected from skin oils and from contact with other garments.

Not all our customers are headed for Hollywood Hills or the White House, but with Classic Cleaners, you can be ready just in case that engraved invitation is delivered tomorrow!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Back in the day, our great-great-grandparents knew Milk of Magnesia was a good remedy to “buffer” stomach acid.

  But, along with preventing acid indigestion in our own bodies, did you know that books and clothes need to be protected as well?

When Classic Cleaners professionals are preserving an heirloom or a wedding gown, for instance, they use layers of acid-free paper to stuff the garment, and then pack the item it into a box made of acid-free material.

"Buffering" clothes with acid-free paper

(The definition of acid-free paper is paper with a neutral PH of around 7.) 

Up until the middle 1800′s, paper was made from various plants, including mulberry and flax.  Then it was discovered that paper could be made more cheaply from wood pulp. It took chemicals to break the wood down into pulp, however, and that process left a residue of acid. The problem was that the acid would turn the pulp yellow and cause it to deteriorate over time.  In fact, many valuable books in libraries became illegible over time, all due to the effects of acid in the paper on which they had been printed!

Today, much of the commercially produced paper is acid free because, during the processing of the wood, “buffers” are added to neutralize the acid in the pulp (kind of like putting “Tums” or Milk of Magnesia in the mix).

Layered with acid free material and loaded into the acid free archival quality preservation box, your gown or heirloom can “breathe”.  Good thing, too, because at Classic Cleaners, we work hard to preserve our reputation as the best wedding gown preservation service from Indianapolis to Noblesville and everywhere in between.

Acid indigestion for clothes?  No way!  After all, as a Classic Cleaners customer, you’ve got a “buffer” in the dry cleaning business!

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