s2k
Well-Known Member
Can you just give the leotard parts a good scrubbing in the kitchen sink? I'm wondering if the velvet is colorfast; I'm sure you don't want that black bleeding into the white.
ballgown cleaning
- Thread starter elisedance
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Can you just give the leotard parts a good scrubbing in the kitchen sink? I'm wondering if the velvet is colorfast; I'm sure you don't want that black bleeding into the white.
mindputtee
Forum Master
Was the gown made with Chrisanne fabrics (or another such dance fabric brand) or is the fabric of an unknown source?
I did some reading on velvet cleaning and it looks like you run the risk of crushing the velvet and ruining the pile. One source said to brush the velvet as it dries to restore the nap, and then steam it after to refluff it.
Personally, I would test a small spot in an inconspicuous area to first test for bleeding and second to make sure you can restore the fluff after it has been saturated and mashed down.
s2k
Well-Known Member
Whatever happened to trying to get pitsmell out? What worked, if anything?
Uhh, no reason.... -_-
I just saw this post, even though it is not recent - any particular brand/sub-type of Tide, or anything (nothing with bleach I would assume)? I have been using Woolite. I think I got a "streak" or two on the skirt of a white satin smooth dress, but I assumed that was because I wringed it when I shouldn't have. It's not really visible but going forward would like to avoid any issues.
fascination
Site Moderator
yes, I think someone mentioned that earlier on...I had happened to have used it before Dawn mentioned it....as a rule I always use tide
fascination
Site Moderator
though again, until I washed the white gown, I never had trouble with woolite...
Miss Silly
Well-Known Member
/tangent/ Has anyone ever tried the vodka trick on stinky shoes?
Miss Silly
Well-Known Member
I have LOL. I does help. But I have some dr scholls deoderizer spray that works too.... I figured i'd save the vodka for my dresses (and my mouth).
Dancing Irishman
Forum Master
Never have, but it seems like it should work. Still antimicrobial, still applied to a porous material.
ProgressNotPerfection
Forum Master
Bumping a five-year-old thread in case things have changed (such as fabrics, glues, stones, detergent, common wisdom). My question is about the actual WASHING of a complete dress, not just using baby wipes on the sweaty areas.
Most of the older threads I read on DF said to hand-wash your dress in the bathtub with cold water & gentle detergent (not Woolite because it can leave streaks; most gentle shampoos are prob OK; sometimes even Tide high efficiency); don't submerge for more than 1-2 minutes or the glue will start to dissolve & you'll lose stones; rinse thoroughly but gently in cold water; wrap in towels to absorb some of the water; lay dress flat on a bunch of towels to dry; turn it over every few hours and replace the damp towels underneath with new dry towels as needed.
Then some of the newer threads said "heck with that - I no longer do it that way - I just chuck it in the washing machine zipped inside a large pillow case to catch the stones that way and it turns out just fine."
But...in the washing machine, isn't it submerged (or the equivalent) for much longer than 5 minutes - in which case you'll literally un-glue your whole dress? Does it make a difference if you have a top-loader or front-loader? Does it make a difference if you have a center agitator or not?
Or does the washing machine version apply only to certain fabrics; but certain other fabrics must still be hand-washed?
I think I remember someone's post making a reference to "Lucy and the grapes" when describing the technique for bathtub-washing. Really? It's OK to climb in the tub and walk all over your dress???
In case you're going to ask me what materials my dresses are made of - I have no idea. Nor the glue, nor the stones (type/kind/quality). I don't even know the designer of my smooth dress (if any). My rhythm dress is by Randall Designs and is veeeeeeery heavily stoned, so I'm almost certainly hand washing that one anyway.
But assuming I hand-wash both dresses, what's the DF consensus on putting them in the washer afterwards on a SPIN ONLY cycle (no soap, no new water), to get much of the water out before spreading the dresses out on towels to dry?
Most of the older threads I read on DF said to hand-wash your dress in the bathtub with cold water & gentle detergent (not Woolite because it can leave streaks; most gentle shampoos are prob OK; sometimes even Tide high efficiency); don't submerge for more than 1-2 minutes or the glue will start to dissolve & you'll lose stones; rinse thoroughly but gently in cold water; wrap in towels to absorb some of the water; lay dress flat on a bunch of towels to dry; turn it over every few hours and replace the damp towels underneath with new dry towels as needed.
Then some of the newer threads said "heck with that - I no longer do it that way - I just chuck it in the washing machine zipped inside a large pillow case to catch the stones that way and it turns out just fine."
But...in the washing machine, isn't it submerged (or the equivalent) for much longer than 5 minutes - in which case you'll literally un-glue your whole dress? Does it make a difference if you have a top-loader or front-loader? Does it make a difference if you have a center agitator or not?
Or does the washing machine version apply only to certain fabrics; but certain other fabrics must still be hand-washed?
I think I remember someone's post making a reference to "Lucy and the grapes" when describing the technique for bathtub-washing. Really? It's OK to climb in the tub and walk all over your dress???
In case you're going to ask me what materials my dresses are made of - I have no idea. Nor the glue, nor the stones (type/kind/quality). I don't even know the designer of my smooth dress (if any). My rhythm dress is by Randall Designs and is veeeeeeery heavily stoned, so I'm almost certainly hand washing that one anyway.
But assuming I hand-wash both dresses, what's the DF consensus on putting them in the washer afterwards on a SPIN ONLY cycle (no soap, no new water), to get much of the water out before spreading the dresses out on towels to dry?
For drying - I used to just lay my dresses out on top of and covered/stuffed with towels. Now I drape a towel over the shower door frame in the master bathroom (where we have actual shower doors, rather than a rod/curtain) and then drape the dress over that. I place another towel over it for the first hour or so to absorb some of the water, then let it drip/air-dry. (and yes, will need towels/basins on the floor initially to catch the big drips). I've never put a dress in the washer, I just don't have the intestinal fortitude for that risk.
Unrelated, I wear t-shirts most of the time. I don't put them in the drier (except for 5-10 min or so to fluff right before I iron them) because I swear it shrinks them, but I have a plethora of those sweater drier racks. Not enough though, so on laundry day a lot of them get draped over chairs around the house to dry. I've noticed that the chair-draped ones dry faster and softer than the ones on the racks. Hence the ballroom dress strategy as well (although tbh, I first tried that on one of my lower end dresses that didn't have quite so much embellishment).
Unrelated, I wear t-shirts most of the time. I don't put them in the drier (except for 5-10 min or so to fluff right before I iron them) because I swear it shrinks them, but I have a plethora of those sweater drier racks. Not enough though, so on laundry day a lot of them get draped over chairs around the house to dry. I've noticed that the chair-draped ones dry faster and softer than the ones on the racks. Hence the ballroom dress strategy as well (although tbh, I first tried that on one of my lower end dresses that didn't have quite so much embellishment).
worddancer
Well-Known Member
I think because of this thread, after the my first comp I just put the dress in the washing machine. And I lost a few stones, but it came out great.
For drying: towel on floor method with a fan over it.
The dress was a $400 tailored dress from Asia.
For drying: towel on floor method with a fan over it.
The dress was a $400 tailored dress from Asia.
ProgressNotPerfection
Forum Master
Yesterday’s project (in between judging high school debate rounds at a virtual tournament): I hand-washed both my comp dresses, one at a time, in the garden tub in the master bathroom. (First I scoured the bathtub clean, rinsing out the caustic cleanser with an obsessive thoroughness reminiscent of Lady Macbeth).
What follows is an absurdly detailed description of how I washed my dresses, because I am confident that there are DF readers out there who will appreciate my OCD tendencies. (And I personally would have welcomed having an absurdly detailed description beforehand.)
Procedure
Preparation: I spread out a couple large clean towels on the bathroom floor, with a couple more nearby. I also spread out several more clean towels on the two twin beds in the guest room, which I had selected as my drying place.
I filled the tub with 3-4 inches of cold water, pouring in about 1 tablespoon of All Free & Clear HE liquid laundry detergent under the running water. Standing in the tub and holding most of the dress up out of the sudsy water, I submerged and gently washed all parts of the dress that touch my body, since that’s where sweat & germs collect. Then I dunked the whole dress, swishing it around by hand and spreading out the underskirts, opening the sleeves, etc., making sure the entire dress was washed. This took about two full minutes. Then I opened the stopper, and while the sudsy water drained out, I turned the cold water back on to rinse it.
Rinsing was trickier. By now, the dress weighed approximately 37 pounds, and the force of the running water pressed it back down into the dirty water I was trying to rinse out. So once again, I lifted the entire dres up out of the water and balanced most of its weight on my bent leg (I was kneeling on the other leg at this point), then rinsed out individual sections of the dress, starting with the sleeves then the bodice then continuing down to the hem. By now, the dress weighed approximately 52 pounds, so this took some work. It was impossible for me to keep the freshly-rinsed parts of the dress separate from the rest, and also up out of the water, without holding it tightly to me. (I recommend wearing a swimsuit during this process.) Rinsing took another 2-3 minutes.
Once the entire dress was rinsed out, I laid it down on the towels already spread out on the floor. Then I pressed another towel down on top of it, rolled up the towels loosely, and carried the wet bundle to the guest room. Discarding the by-now soaked towels after unrolling them, I spread out the dress over the dry towels waiting on the bed. I inserted smaller towels into the bodice and between the layers of skirts, made sure the sleeves weren’t twisted, turned the ceiling fan on high, & left the room.
A couple hours later, I replaced all the wet towels on the bed with dry ones (and yes, they were ALL wet), flipped the dress over to the other side, inserted new dry towels in the bodice & between the skirt layers, & put all the wet towels into the dryer.
I repeated this process again before bed, and checked them this morning. They still aren’t completely dry but are getting closer. Luckily I’m in no rush to put them away, because I definitely don’t want to zip them inside storage bags if there is still any moisture. For that matter, I will wearing them again in 2 weeks and 3 weeks, respectively, for the studio’s in-house “fun nights” (yep, they’re doing those again)...so maybe I’ll just leave them where they are till then (covered with a sheet for dust protection).
What follows is an absurdly detailed description of how I washed my dresses, because I am confident that there are DF readers out there who will appreciate my OCD tendencies. (And I personally would have welcomed having an absurdly detailed description beforehand.)
Procedure
Preparation: I spread out a couple large clean towels on the bathroom floor, with a couple more nearby. I also spread out several more clean towels on the two twin beds in the guest room, which I had selected as my drying place.
I filled the tub with 3-4 inches of cold water, pouring in about 1 tablespoon of All Free & Clear HE liquid laundry detergent under the running water. Standing in the tub and holding most of the dress up out of the sudsy water, I submerged and gently washed all parts of the dress that touch my body, since that’s where sweat & germs collect. Then I dunked the whole dress, swishing it around by hand and spreading out the underskirts, opening the sleeves, etc., making sure the entire dress was washed. This took about two full minutes. Then I opened the stopper, and while the sudsy water drained out, I turned the cold water back on to rinse it.
Rinsing was trickier. By now, the dress weighed approximately 37 pounds, and the force of the running water pressed it back down into the dirty water I was trying to rinse out. So once again, I lifted the entire dres up out of the water and balanced most of its weight on my bent leg (I was kneeling on the other leg at this point), then rinsed out individual sections of the dress, starting with the sleeves then the bodice then continuing down to the hem. By now, the dress weighed approximately 52 pounds, so this took some work. It was impossible for me to keep the freshly-rinsed parts of the dress separate from the rest, and also up out of the water, without holding it tightly to me. (I recommend wearing a swimsuit during this process.) Rinsing took another 2-3 minutes.
Once the entire dress was rinsed out, I laid it down on the towels already spread out on the floor. Then I pressed another towel down on top of it, rolled up the towels loosely, and carried the wet bundle to the guest room. Discarding the by-now soaked towels after unrolling them, I spread out the dress over the dry towels waiting on the bed. I inserted smaller towels into the bodice and between the layers of skirts, made sure the sleeves weren’t twisted, turned the ceiling fan on high, & left the room.
A couple hours later, I replaced all the wet towels on the bed with dry ones (and yes, they were ALL wet), flipped the dress over to the other side, inserted new dry towels in the bodice & between the skirt layers, & put all the wet towels into the dryer.
I repeated this process again before bed, and checked them this morning. They still aren’t completely dry but are getting closer. Luckily I’m in no rush to put them away, because I definitely don’t want to zip them inside storage bags if there is still any moisture. For that matter, I will wearing them again in 2 weeks and 3 weeks, respectively, for the studio’s in-house “fun nights” (yep, they’re doing those again)...so maybe I’ll just leave them where they are till then (covered with a sheet for dust protection).
ProgressNotPerfection
Forum Master
Forgot to mention that one tiny pink stone came off the peach smooth dress (can’t tell from where), and 2 small blue stones came off the turquoise rhythm dress (ditto). So that’s good.
BUT - there are several very large stones on the rhythm dress, many of which are noticeably loose. I didn’t inspect all the stones pre-bath, so they might have already been loose. By “large,” I mean 1-1.5 inches in diameter, and 0.5-0.75 inches tall at the thickest point. Some of these big ones appear to have been stitched down at one end in addition to being glued.
Any updated tips on re-securing the loose stones to the dress? I have a brand-new tube of E6000 glue, but I’m gonna do some more research before using that.
BUT - there are several very large stones on the rhythm dress, many of which are noticeably loose. I didn’t inspect all the stones pre-bath, so they might have already been loose. By “large,” I mean 1-1.5 inches in diameter, and 0.5-0.75 inches tall at the thickest point. Some of these big ones appear to have been stitched down at one end in addition to being glued.
Any updated tips on re-securing the loose stones to the dress? I have a brand-new tube of E6000 glue, but I’m gonna do some more research before using that.