Cleaner damaged vintage dresses, emotionally devastated

Hi all,

I was left 2 little custom made flower girl dresses that were worn at my aunt's wedding in 1963. She recently passed away from cancer and the dresses were left to me. They had some brown staining on them, so I brought them to a local cleaner here in SC who specializes in vintage formal wear. The cleaning process went wrong and damage was done including white bleach marks and the rings for the hoops came out during the soaking process. They had a seamstress repair the hoops, but they were not shaped correctly and twisted. Their remedy for repairing the bleach spots was to dye the dresses back to original color (at their expense) but they could not find anyone locally in the Charleston area who does this service. They are also going to have another seamstress repair the hoops at their expense.

My question is, where do I go from here ? I've reached out to restoration companies online who are out of state and I'm waiting to hear from them, but I am literally in tears every day thinking about how my aunt entrusted me with these dresses and they are ruined.

The dresses are still at the cleaners because I'm hesitant to take them until some resolution is found. I may very well have to pursue monetary compensation for the dresses and that's another question I have. How much should I be asking for in compensation if it comes to that ? I've asked the cleaners to take pics of the damage and I'm waiting for those. The pics I've attached are the dresses as they originally looked. Thank you all for your help - Mary

 

when don't you have some one make a collage using whats left of dresses and pictures that you may have of them being worn?

 

Unfortunately, coloured nylon taffeta, which is what these look to be made from, doesn't like to be cleaned. They would have been better off to refuse to clean them.

 

Thank you for the kind words

 

Yes, that's what the owner told me he wished the staff had done. He said he's trained them as best possible, but they still make mistakes. I could have soaked them in OxyClean and ruined them myself with less hassle. Lesson learned.

 

Not a bad idea, but I am going to try to do my best to keep them intact, even if they only serve as a pattern for new dresses to be made in their likeness.