About a month ago, I received a call from a potentially new
client.
Carol informed me that her daughter, Chase, was getting married.
And that her daughter had set her heart on wearing the gown that
had been worn by her mother, Eleanor, when she got married in 1942,
and that had been worn by her when she got married in 1975.
The upshot of the conversation was that they were exploring the
possibility of "updating" the wedding gown. Provided, of course,
that the gown could be restored to near original condition.
As I'm always looking for new restoration challenges, I arranged
for Carol and Chase to come see me so that I could examine the
gown and provide them with a no-obligation assessment as to the
possible results they could expect.
It turned out that the gown
- had never been cleaned before,
- had been stored in a white plastic bag that had been placed
inside a brown kraft box (a caldron of acidic gases) since 1975,
and
- had yellowed (the fabric) and browned (the lace trim) over that
period of time.
I explained to Carol and Chase that, in all probability, the
gown had yellowed and browned over time because the gown had been
stored in materials that were highly acidic (plastic and cardboard)
and, as those materials degraded over time, the acids from those
materials had off-gassed and migrated (or transferred) onto the
fabric.
I further explained to Carol and Chase that the yellowing and
browning of the fabric was not the only problem caused by those
off-gassing acids. The bigger problem is that off-gassing acids
cause fabrics to become brittle and weak and that the extent of the
brittleness or weakness cannot be predicted, with any degree of
certainty, in advance of the restoration process.
In other words, the ultimate success of the restoration is
always dependent on the skill and experience of the restorer, the
careful handling of the garment during the restoration process, and
the range of processes used during the restoration process.
The before and after photos shown below reflect the
transformation from a musty, heavily-creased, yellow and brown
colored gown to an odorless, smooth-as-silk, egg shell colored gown
that's ready to be restyled by their dressmaker.
Chase, all the folks at RAVE FabriCARE wish you the very best.
And don't worry about dirtying or soiling your gown on the big day.
Have a blast. We know how to restore it back to 1942 condition!
BEFORE
AFTER
How can I help
you?