Help with cleaning wedding dress

Vintagiality

Vintagiality

VFG Treasurer
Hi all,

I am looking for help with cleaning this wedding dress. I acquired five different gowns, all seem to be from the 50s and was able to clean the other four successfully with Restoration however this one has me stumped. I can usually tell by the stain if it’s dirt and likely to come out with soaking or if it’s say sweat stains which I have never been successful in removing. I can’t tell what these stains are as they seem to be pretty uniform around the entire neckline. I am worried about soaking it because I am concerned that the metal parts of the rhinestones would bleed rust. Either way, what do you think these stains are and what would be my best bet to remove them?
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Also, on a separate note, what do you typically do with all the fabric covered buttons which have a metal back and start rusting through the fabric once soaked. I have time and again cleaned garments with these buttons and while they cleaned up beautifully, I came to find out that the metal buttons or closures have leaked rust and damaged my dresses.

Thank you
Victoria
 
I had this problem once... had to remove the buttons and had my seamstress replace them. She used some of the interior fabric to recover them. Once they had been removed, it was fairly easy to clean the rust stain.

The next time I had a similar dress, I just removed all the buttons and spot-cleaned them as the dress soaked.
 
First, I always remove the metal buttons and hook and eyes. They are the worst offenders with rusting. The zippers I test with a little oxyclean. I dab a bit on and see if it rusts onto the fabric of the zipper. If it doesn't then I go ahead and soak. If it does, then I remove the zipper too.

That is very strange staining. Seems like it's located where the dress meets the skin. Only thing I can think of is heavy sweating mixed with some chemical reaction to the beading. I wouldn't heavily soak it. I'd do a spot removal test where there isn't any beading. Pour some oxyclean diluted in hot water on the stain, cover the area with plastic wrap and let is sit for 20 minutes then dry it with a hairdryer set on low heat. See if the stain lifts at all.

As you said, I rarely have luck removing sweat stains and I'm pretty sure I've tried absolutely everything imaginable. Good luck with this dress ! It's lovely !!

Another thought.. could it be some kind of powder or makeup that bled through the fabric ?
 
Wow !!! That's fantastic !!! Have you tried Wine Away on sweat stains ? I'm wondering if it would work for those ?
 
Last edited:
MaryLC said:
Wow !!! That's fantastic !!! Have you tried Wine Away on sweat stains ? I'm wondering if it would work for those ?
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I have never tried it on sweat stains but I plan to. It has worked really well for me on any kind of fruit, coffee and other food/drink stains and in some cases on rust stains. I was shocked at it working on this dress though. I literally sprayed the whole front and without even scrubbing they disappeared. I did have to careful go to each metal base for the rhinestones with a qtip and clean the green residue that was starting to leak. All in all I was very pleased with the results on the bodice. Now I have to battle those pesky covered button stains though.

Hope this helps others looking to clean such stains and I will keep you posted on the sweat stains and Wine Away. Just ordered two more bottles of it.

Victoria
 
I've heard of chalk paint being used to cover the button stains. I guess if they're trashed anyway it might be worth a try. Thanks for all the new knowledge !
 
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