Caring For Your Dress
A professional cleaner is highly recommended for steaming your special occasion dress. Also, most alteration places will do this as part of their service. If you need to do last minute touchups or prefer to do it yourself at home, here are some helpful tips...
Steaming / Ironing
- Always read the care instructions to see if the fabric is appropriate for steaming or ironing and follow care instructions.
- Heavy steam applied directly to some fabrics (e.g. silk) may cause it to pucker. A dry, slightly warm iron may work best. Test on a piece of the fabric scrap first.
- Be careful with hand held steamers. These may show a water mark if the steamer is held too closely to it for too long.
Fabrics
- Velvets / Satins - Do not use heavy steam or hot iron directly on these fabrics. This can damage the nap of the fabric and leave an imprint of the iron and seam allowance.
- Beading - You should avoid applying any heat to beaded fabric, embroidery or lace. This can dull the bead or worse…melt them!
Other Care
- Use a padded hanger for your dress to prevent stretching of the neckline and hanger marks.
- Storing your dress in a dry cleaning bag is okay for the short term. After your event, use a ventilated bag for long term storage to avoid mildew and mustiness, due to trapped moisture.
- Do not fold velvet and satin, as his may create permanent creases in the nap of the fabric.
- If you spill water or a drink on a velvet dress, do not blot the spot. This may press the nap down and ruin the fabric. Instead, shake as much of the moisture off as possible and let it dry.