Restoration of a Silk Organza Wedding Dress (Circa 1967)

I am paralyzed with indecision regarding how to restore this lovely dress I have fallen in love with. The dress is composed of a lace bodice with pearl beading, and a three-layer skirt: one underskirt and two organza over-layers. Both the over-layers and the underskirt are stained (see photos). The over-layers are stained with blotches, almost as though from mildew (although the dress does not smell bad at all), and the under-layer has spots (also pictured).

The dress seems to be hand-made privately -- there are no tags of any kind at all. Thus the fabric content is something of a mystery. However, I feel quite certain that the entire dress is lined in silk -- the underskirt and bodice lining have that ultra-satiny, fragile feeling, too gossamer to be anything else. This makes me suspect that the organza may be silk as well, although I am not experienced enough to be able to distinguish silk from synthetic organza by feel alone.

I have inquired at the best dry cleaners in my area (Boston) and have learned that restoration of a wedding gown of this type would cost well over 500 dollars, which I simply can't afford. Even a simple dry cleaning would cost quite a lot, and furthermore with all the beading on the bodice seems like a risky venture .

I have looked through all the threads on this topic and have found this community to be a wealth of brilliant information! There is a lot of conflicting advice though, particularly regarding silk, so I thought I would ask for your advice on this dress in particular. Am I insane to even contemplate trying to remove the stains myself?! What would you do with the dress, if you were in my position?

Here are photos: -- the first is of the dress itself; the second a close-up to give you a sense of the fabric; the third a photo of the stains on the organza -- which are pale but EVERYWHERE, and the fourth is a photo of the stains on the underskirt.
Thanks so much in advance!

 

Lovely dress Ida and welcome to the VFG! Oh dear, those stains don't look promising to clean do they? If you're interested in fabric content you could try a silk burn test or take the dress to a seamstress or fabric shop and they should be able to help you identify it. I think most of us here would advise you not to have it pro cleaned, the expense is rarely worth it and the outcome is never guaranteed. I'm curious, did the Boston dry cleaner actually say they could remove the spotting? If you just called them to inquire I'd suggest you take it to them in person, they might have another opinion and could confirm the fabric.

When I look at buying one to sell, the first thing I look for is staining. Usually it's dirt and mostly on the hem area but when I see the orange/brown age spots I walk away. Though these can be faded they are near impossible to remove and we know all brides want a pristine dress regardless of age.

One of the hardest things for me is to walk away from great vintage I know can't be salvaged. My advice would be to try spot cleaning first in an inconspicuous area and see how it goes. There are several natural cleaners on the market that just might do the trick. Hopefully, other members will come along and offer more suggestions.

 

Those look like so-called "rust" marks and they're caused by oxidization (poor storage and climate control). You can get them out of many fabrics, but they're hard to remove from silk.

So: my advice is to ascertain the fabric. If the lining is silk, the exterior is likely to be as well, although in the close up it looks like it could be crystal organza, which is a polyester. I haven't seen oxidization on polyester before, so I doubt that's what it is. My vote is still with silk.

I agree with Rita: I would take it to a good dry cleaner and get their opinion.

My feeling is that you probably won't get them out though, sorry.

I see that you love this dress though, so I have a suggestion: even if you can't get the marks out, you can cover them. One option is to attach an overskirt of similar fabric, either stitch it into the waist, or make a separate skirt on a sash, to go around the waist (I'm assuming it's only the skirt that's affected). Another option is to scatter small pearl beads over the skirt, similar to the ones on the bodice - these will cover or distract from the marks.

 

What great ideas Nicole! The bodice appears to be in good shape and your suggestions sound perfect to save the dress. Good luck Ida!

 

Good news! Emboldened by what you told me here, I started spot cleaning, first with natural cleaners. When that didn't work, with Woolite (all on the second underskirt, not the top layer, and in a place I thought wouldn't be visible.) These didn't work, and finally I tried good old Shout -- and it worked! The spots seemed to completely disappear. I then washed only the skirt very gently by hand in cold water with just a tiny bit of detergent, and so far the organza, which is so fine it is drying quickly -- seems to be free of spots. We'll see...

The spots on the underskirt, as I suspected, have remained stubborn -- luckily they are not visible, but still a shame.

Also, as an aside: once the skirt of the dress was wet, I was able to see that the dress DOES have a tag -- there was a Union label sewn inside one of the seams! Nothing about fabric content, but it did say DRY CLEAN ONLY. Hm hm. Taken altogether, maybe I overestimated the quality/uniqueness of the dress.
In any case, thanks so much for your replies! You were so kind to help me out!

 

Such a pretty dress! And great that the stains are coming out! If the lining stains aren't visible, I'd suggest leaving it as is. So long as the outer layer is clean, it really shouldn't matter, and trying to get rust/age stains out of silk, if it is silk and as Nicole says, is not only nearly impossible, it can end in heartbreak, as the silk turns to jelly wherever the spots had been, and slides down the drain. You are then left with something like this (sob):



Of course, if you're really wanting it pristine, you could replace the stained underlayers with brand new fabric.