Whitening A Yellowed Wedding Dress

By

mdevost

My mother owned a dry cleaners/laundromat. When a wedding dress came in, into the double front loader it went. If you put it in a top loader the agitation will ruin it. Then she hung it up to dry. My own wedding gown was a monster, weighing almost 15lbs (not including krinalin).

My wedding was in august 2007. my mother used mild dish washing soap (best thing for getting out dirt) with a nail brush, scrubbing all around the bottom where it gets really filthy. she was not gentle either, satin is a pretty tough fabric. Then she dunked it right in the swimming pool. Yes that's right the swimming pool, chlorine and all. though my mum doesn't over chlorinate the pool water anyway. It took two people to hoist it up to hang.

We hung it outside on the deck awning that rolls out from the house. We already had wedding dress storage boxes. But as a gift to a wedding I attended. I took the brides gown, washed and boxed it for her. would have cost her 200.00 at a cleaners. You can call pretty much any dry cleaners and they should sell you a gown box. They are about $20-$30 dollars, they come with the bust form and the insert so when you take the main lid off, there is a "liner" lid that has a plastic window so you can see the bodice off the dress (the part with the most detail. Just make sure you use "Acid Free" tissue to line and lay over the dress while it's stored; (I've only seen it in pink).

The gown will not yellow for the remainder of it's life. My daughter 12 years ago wore the christening gown I wore as a baby. It was boxed for 30 + years. I took it out, pressed it and put it right on her. I ope this information is useful and you can rest easy knowing that this is the way the professionals do it. In reality 99.9% of wedding dresses CANNOT be dry cleaned, along with most other garments. So next time you bring items to the cleaners chances are. 2-3 out of 5 are being washed in a regular machine.

By naylor M. (Guest Post)

I have well water and it ruins my white clothes. My daughter's soccer jersey got washed my mistake and it is white..well it was. Now it is dingy yellow. How do you get it out without hurting the other colors?

By

Elizabethsnana

Try gently washing it with Oxi Clean or the generic, in a large basin or very clean bath tub. Depending on whether you used beads or sequins, be very careful not to wring or agitate it. I have had great results with these products on my grandfathers christening and baby clothes.