How To Clean, Care For & Store Your Prom Dress
The month of June is coming to an end which means that prom season is wrapping up as well. The corsages have been pinned, the stretch limos rented and the prom dresses chosen and worn, now it’s time to figure out what to do with those formal dresses while they are not being donned! While some people let their prom dress stay crumpled in a taffeta pile on the floor until they remember to hang it up, it’s a much better practice to properly clean, store and care for your prom dress.
Take a look at these prom dress cleaning tips, care advice and storage suggestions to keep your gown ready to be worn again (By you or someone else!) at a moment’s notice.
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How To Clean
After your night of dancing, eating and having fun with friends, you’re going to want to take your prom dress to the dry cleaners for a thorough cleaning. Even if you don’t observe any obvious stains, there may be smaller stains you don’t notice from things like dirt, food, grass, sweat or spray tan residue. This way too, if your dress has beads, sequins or other small, intricate parts that can fall off, you can rest assured that a practiced professional will be handling your dress with the appropriate amount of care required for cleaning.
How To Care For
After you’ve gotten your dress meticulously cleaned at the dry cleaners, you’re going to want to examine the gown for any tears, loose embellishments, out of place accents, or broken zippers. For these repairs, drop your prom dress off to a seamstress. They can then sew or patch up any snags before you put your prom dress into storage.
How To Store
When it comes to where you store your prom dress, the location should be cool and dry. Heat and humidity can promote mildew growth and attract bugs. The last thing you want is to pull out your prom dress and find it infested with moths or larvae. With that in mind, do not store your prom dress in the attic, basement or garage. Those areas are extremely vulnerable to the outside elements and vermin.
In addition to the environment that you store your prom dress in, what you store your prom dress in is also important. Direct sunlight can fade the colors of your dress or damage delicate fabrics. To protect your dress from the harmful effects of sunlight exposure, use acid-free garment bags or boxes for prom dress storage.