Wedding Dress Preservation

[labellabonaroba.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone!

I have a wedding dress I need cleaned and preserved. I looked on Yelp for possible suggestions, but I can't seem to find anything about this specific service. Does anyone have any experience with this in the Somerville area? Thanks in advance!

Comments

[ron_newman]

I added a couple of relevant tags. Here'a an earlier post on the subject, but out of 10 comments there's really only one recommendation.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

My wife went to Dependable Cleaners over on Newbury Street, I believe. She went in just looking to have a red wine stain removed and left after purchasing some $250 Wedding Preservation box thing in addition to the cleaning. They did a great job getting the stain out and she was happy, so I was happy.

The box has a little window on the front so you can see the dress but you're supposed to keep the dress sealed. It all seemed rather silly to me, and just last week we moved the box and found (through the window) considerable yellowing. They supposedly guarantee against this, so we'll be taking it back.

My $0.02? It's all a scam. One last way to get you on your way out of the wedding machine. I would imagine that with a little creative googling you could figure out what "special" types of tissue paper they put in the box and handle the preservation yourself.

[tober.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that it's pretty much a scam. I am not aware of any substance that an ordinary box could contain that will prevent yellowing of fabric (though making sure the dress is scrupulously clean prior to storage helps) - however some substances will hasten yellowing. If a garment is to be packed in a material such as tissue paper it should be acid-free tissue paper - and it should be kept in the dark. The container should be sealed well enough to exclude the entry of moths and so forth. Optimally one would use a hermetically sealed chamber filled with dry nitrogen or argon but I don't think anybody actually ever does that.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I didnt get much help from my earlier post that ron linked to up above. I STILL havent taken my dress to be cleaned lol.


I did find a place through a friend of a friend though and when I called they seemed very helpful/informative. After I talked to them I called the place I bought my dress to ask if they had a suggestion and they recommended the same place. I plan on bringing my dress there this week :)

http://www.hollycleaners.com/

[left-unsaid.livejournal.com]

i did a LOT of research on this topic and determined that a good dry cleaning and hanging or boxed storage is really all you need....the preservation thing is somewhat of a rip-off, and there is conflicting evidence about damage or good done by 'sealing' - fabrics need air!

here is a good site where they recommend opening the box every 2-3 years to re-fold to ensure permanent creases don't develop, and they sell do-it-yourself kits:

http://www.heritagegown.com/catalog.php#kits

I had my dress cleaned at holly cleaners in Newton as well, and they did a great job, they fitted the bodice around a mannequin-type thing for hanging storage, and i store it in this great breathable garment bag:

http://www.clothingdoctor.com/garment-bags.html

There is some more info on the clothing doctor site about why a breathable garment bag is important if you opt for hanging storage.

[seaweedgirle.livejournal.com]

I got my dress preserved at the dry cleaner in Ball Square, a few doors down from Blue Cloud Gallery. They did a nice job. (Sorry that I forgot the name of the place...)

[hopkinsgranada.livejournal.com]

I used to work at a bridal shop in VT and we did the preservation there. The owner was good friend's with a dry cleaners- so she'd take it there first and then we'd stuff the dress with Acid-free tissue paper, that way the dress wouldn't crease at all and then we'd put it in a museum box- again acid free. I wouldn't trust anything with a plastic window over time plastic reacts to fabric as it breaks down. And in the case of the acid free box with acid free tissue paper it's ok to open it up and look at it I think we even suplied little white gloves you could where to handle it if you wanted.
I know this doesn't help you find a place to do it but I thought it might help to know the process and how not to get scammed.
Good luck, let us know what you find.