A Wedding Dress and a Dressing Gown (??)

G

GreenVioletVintage

Registered Guest
Hi All-
Would love some help with these beauties- the first is a wedding dress and I'm guessing the second is a dressing gown? Its very glamorous! I would love help with age and any tips on how to clean these up! The wedding dress isn't quite as yellow as it looks in the photos, but it does have a bit of yellowing. Thanks so much!
-Megan

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Some months ago I asked for advice on a yellowed from storage gown on these forums too:
the advice was to soak it in oxy. (My gown was 100% acetate.)

I ended up having to soak it several times and leave it overnight: you wouldn't believe how dirty the water would get. The result was an as good as new gown, :USETHUMBUP: Maybe you should just give it a go too!

Lovely dress btw!
Diane
 
um.. i am no good with wedding dresses... so I am giving you my best guess....

early to mid 60s?

and the robe/dressing gown I think is early 50s possibly late 40s?

but I do not sell either of these items so I have limited experience with them so don't hold me to it :-)

As far as cleaning it depends on the materials... I have had great sucess with oxyclean but if the fabric's intigerity has been compromised (dry rot or rust) the oxy is likely to eat through it. But I have cleaned rayon silk and cotton all with success even though most say rayon is bad to oxy, I've had no problem. Sometime there is shrinkage but not too major and a smaller size is better than dirty. Cotton does great and it does yellow with age but I would be scared to dip a wedding dress unless you didn't invest much into it and are willing to risk damage?

but the safest thing to do is just a cool water bath with mild detergent or dreft and hand "swish" it to pull out soiling, it wont get rid of stains but it will do a decent job of the dirty or dingy look. Be very careful ringing them out or drying them the weight can cause tears especialy in silk and lace. A large beach towel on a table or floor and lay the garment on it is propably best for drying. I also have a link for cleaning specific fabrics (published in like 1956?) but its saved on my laptop and when I get a chance I will add it. I have not used any of the methods listed because I have had success with oxy, but worth a look at. Also, many vinties I've met HATE oxy and have had numerous disasters, so that is something to keep in mind.

Hope that helps :-)
 
Diane. you did acetate iin oxy? WOW..... acetate dosnt do well completely emerged in water it gets sticky... but if you didnt handle it rough I guess so?

May I ask the date? I have a gown that would be worth hundreds if I could get it clean but I am scared to dip it because its lining is acetate... mine is late 40s....

Congrats on your gown. and now I have hope lol!
 
Thanks so much! Thats all good info. maybe i'll go the handwahing route first. Its a lace (no clue what it is made of) over some acetate lining (i'm fairly certain its acetate, still familiarizing myself with that fabric). Your guesses for age were similar to mine. I was sort of waffling between 50s and 60s for the wedding dress (I don't have any experience with wedding dresses either) because of the layers and layers of tulle- reminds me of crinolines. I only spent maybe $4-5 on it so it won't be a crisis if its ruined. Its in surprisingly good shape- only one tear to the lace which is totally repairable. Its just so lovely that I would love to see someone else enjoy it!
 
@ Jluthye,
I just left the gown in a big bucket with cold water and plenty of oxy, left it overnight, then used the shower to rinse, repeat, repeat, and finally left to drip-dry during the day.

The dress was fairly modern, a completely messed up Scott McClintock, I decided to try because it was ruined otherwise anyway. I realize most vinties would want to burn me at the stake for oxy-ing this mercilessly, but hey: sometimes you gotta take a risk. :restlessvillagers:
For your possibly worth hundreds of dollars gown I'd ask for the professionals opinion though!
Diane
 
yeah i was thinking 50s/ 60s too at first but the waist seems a little high? but it may just be an inllusion from the neck/collar design... I know basic era shapes,, i don't do illusions well,... but I've come this far in less than a year so I imagine in another year I'll be pretty good lol :-) So the more seasoned will know with out a doubt! they should be along in a few hours :-)

Good luck and you could burn test if there is any extra fabric any where, but being a wedding dress I doubt that.

Oh and thankyou Diane,,, still scared since mine is older. here is a picture of the dress that I was refering to,,, has lining staining and I have asked for cleaning tips and everyone says had qtip with bleach and its still risky because we are dealing with set in mold. dry cleaner said impossible so I will keep it for personal use I suppose,,, its too pretty and custom not sure if it qualifies as coture but it is nice lol.
 
I agree with late 40s/early 50s on the dressing gown. I love that style!

Can't quite make out the name on the label--is it "Weinberg"?

Good luck with the wedding dress. I'd be terrified of immersing it in water! I recently brought a 50s lace dress that had yellowed in spots to my drycleaner--he didn't even want to wet clean that, just spot cleaned it (with very good results).
 
Cool dress Jluthye!

Yes, the label is all curled up but it says "styled by Weinberg's". I checked the label resource but there was nothing there. I should add that the wedding dress is either homemade or custom made- there is no label. Its very well made though, so I'm leaning towards custom made by a tailor?
 
I think your wedding dress is made of nylon lace and nylon netting, probably from the early '60s. If you want to hand wash, be gentle as fixing lace is a lot of work - personally, I would dry clean unless you're really worried about the yellowing.

The dressing gown is very early '50s and probably cotton so safe to wash or soak in oxy. You might like to remove the buttons first, they're quite pretty and original.

Nicole
 
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