You are at the point in wedding preparations that you need to start thinking about the dress.
It's not always fun and often involves a lot of thought and planning, since you need to decide on things like the overall look, the materials, and the finishing touches.
There are many dresses to choose from, but you settle on one that was worn by your grandma or mom at their weddings decades ago.
Isn't it special to wear the bridal gown down the aisle that was worn by the women who have meant the most to you?
Wedding dress trends come and go much like any other aspect of the fashion industry. It appears that every 10–20 years, everything returns full circle, and what used to be in high fashion on the spring catwalk makes a comeback.
This includes plunging necklines, puffed sleeves, and high-waisted empress shapes.
For this reason, more and more vintage brides are having their dresses professionally restored, either as a keepsake for their children and granddaughters or to wear again themselves.
The sentimental impact of wearing again a vintage bridal gown that someone important to you once worn on their most precious day in the past adds to the dress's already stunning and fashionable retro aesthetic.
It's becoming increasingly fashionable to restore historic garments, but there are a few things you need to know before you dig out your grandmother's ball gown.
What is Wedding Dress Restoration?
Wedding dress restoration typically entails bringing back to life a dress that was purchased 15 years ago or more for a wedding.
However, there may be more nuance to the process than that basic explanation suggests.
When deciding on a course of action for preserving a vintage bridal gown, there are a number of considerations to keep in mind.
The extent of the fabric's yellowing, fraying, and staining will all play a role in how a vintage wedding gown is repaired, regardless of whether it was a designer or off-the-rack item.
A group of fabric experts should investigate your gown to determine the specific materials used and the proper care for each one.
Only one strategy to restore a bridal gown could convert your historic dress into a faded recollection of a once-loved era, as silk fabrics require a much different technique than chiffon.
Your grandmother's or mother's wedding dress can be restored to look like new for your big day.
The wedding dress repair cost is based on the number of layers, the degree of embellishment, and also the length of the garment's train.
The price of restoration is determined by the state of the gown and the intricacy of the restoration method we need to execute due to increased risks and liability.
Wedding Dress Restoration Procedure
Get your hands on a pro who can examine your dress and help you weigh your options.
Because metal rusts in the colour restoration solution, any buttons on your gown that have a metal back will have to be removed and processed separately, if at all.
Remove any metal fasteners such as hooks or eyes.
This can cause pearls to lose their nacre and take on a dull, opaque appearance.
As the stain is removed, the fibre may also be washed away. If it develops, it will generally start at the underarms where sweat has degraded the fabric the most.
The lining of a dress, for instance, can shrink greater than the outer fabric, or a lace underskirt might shrink greater than the silk it covers.
In some cases, pressing the cloth back into place will do the trick, but in others, a new hem will need to be sewn.
It's important to examine your vintage bridal gown carefully after "digging" it out of its storage box or cabinet.
Make sure the fabric and details of your bridal dress are checked. Verify in small areas of the fabrics if any of it has begun to yellow.
This is to be expected, especially if the dress wasn't professionally preserved after the wedding.
Check the lace and beadwork for any missing or loose pieces that need to be fixed.
Try taking a whiff of your bridal gown.
Yes! Odd as it sounds, you can tell if mould has grown on your wedding gown by giving it a sniff.
Those who suffer from allergies to dust or other microscopic particles should exercise caution.
Your dress may have developed mould while being preserved if you notice a musty or strange odour.
Your wedding dress's fibres will break down faster because of mould. The white fabrics show obvious signs of age and discoloration as a result.
Dry Clean the Wedding Dress
Your wedding dress must be cleaned after it has been inspected. Determine which dry cleaning service specialises in cleaning wedding attire.
The dry cleaners will analyse your classic wedding dress to determine the best cleaning process.
Wedding dress cleaning requires thought for the specific fabrics and embellishments, as well as the severity of any stains or filth.
If you know this, you'll have a better idea of how much it will cost to get your wedding dress cleaned.
Especially if it's an antique, you should never attempt to clean the wedding gown on your own.
A long period of storage means that the textiles on this type of wedding gown are likely to be extremely delicate.
Your classic wedding dress could be ruined by the bleach, cleaning solvents, or other methods you plan to use to restore it to its former glory.
If you want your wedding dress cleaned securely, it's best to take it to a professional cleaner.
Purchase a Wedding Dress Preservation Kit
You should get wedding gown preservation kits to help you restore the classic wedding dress you want to wear on your big day.
There is a large variety of services available from which to select the one most appropriate for the bridal gown.
Cleansing, repairing, modifying, and storing are just a few of the many services that come bundled with some kits.
There are wedding dress restoration kits available from preservation services; professionals will evaluate your gown, clean it, and then restore it to its original condition, all in accordance with museum standards.
Keep It in a Safe Place
After having your historic wedding dress restored, you will have to find a secure location to keep it.
It should be stored in a lignin-free and robust storage box after being wrapped in acid-free and colourless tissue.
Without creasing the dress, fold it loosely. Put the box in a cool, dark, and dry spot.
Fabrics can deteriorate when exposed to sunlight.
You should keep your wedding dress in a cool, dry, and pest-free location.
Damage to your antique wedding dress that wasn't there before could be disastrous on your big day if it wasn't stored properly.
It's a creative choice to wear a gown from another era on your wedding day.
There are a number of delicate operations that must be performed on your wedding dress in order to restore it to its former glory.
It's a long shot, but it's not without merit.
The cherished garments will have an even deeper emotional resonance as you once again wear them down the aisle, thanks to your ability to reproduce and personalise them.
Is It Possible to Bring Back the Original Elegance of Every Vintage Wedding Dress?
The delicate fabrics used to make historical wedding dresses (and modern wedding dresses, for that matter) have one major flaw: they yellow over time.
Materials used to make wedding dresses, such as silk, satin, and taffeta, are fragile natural materials that degrade in the presence of oxygen over time if not properly cared for.
Preserving wedding dresses has come a long way in recent years, rendering much of the work done in the past irrelevant (as has the gradual yellowing of wedding dress fabrics).
Most wedding dresses may be restored to their former glory, but before you have yours done, it's a good idea to have it checked out.
What Are Reasonable Outcomes? What Can a Bride Anticipate From Her Gown?
It's easier to work with cotton or linen than silk, and some colour restorations are much more successful than others.
If the weave is particularly tight, ironing out wrinkles will be a laborious process.
Net or lace is the easiest fabric to press out smoothly, whereas silk and satin are the most difficult.
But there is an exception: silk illusion net.
Popularity of silk illusion veils peaked in the early 20th century, but the fabric quickly became obsolete.
Nowadays, fake vintage silk is gritty to the touch and easily dissolves in water.
How Can a Bride Modernise Her Dress Without Tearing It Apart?
The sleeves of your antique dress can be salvaged after you cut them off so that you can make the dress fit your body perfectly.
Altering a dress with a high neck and sleeves to make it strapless is another option.
Straps can be added to spaghetti tops for added safety.
Overskirt a simple dress or shorten a full one to make it more fitted.
Nothing can stop you but your own imagination, and maybe the acceptance of radical change from your loved ones.
Don’t Lose a Precious Memory From a Special Day
You know that dreadful sensation of dread? The sensation you get when you do something wrong and know it will gnaw away at your conscience for years?
We've all had those moments of dread while removing long-forgotten clothing from the rear of a closet.
As with all organic materials, the delicate fibres in your wedding gown begin to degrade immediately.
White is the most prevalent wedding dress fabric colour, but it's also the most prone to degradation processes and discoloration.
Natural degradation causes market whites to turn yellow or brown if left untreated.
When will your wedding dress be yellow?
Yellowing fabric, stains that weren't apparent when the gown was put away, and fallen embellishments all prompt buyers to assume their dress is beyond repair.
Investing in a wedding gown restoration kit has helped numerous families retrieve their lost memories.
How Can a Bride Decide if Her Heirloom Wedding Dress Is Worth Restoring?
The first thing to do is calculate how much it will cost to fix your wedding gown.
When it comes to wedding dresses, some brides mistakenly believe that recovering their mother's gown will be more cost-effective than purchasing a brand new one.
The cost of restoring a wedding dress can vary from $300 to $800 or more if the garment has flaws in the fabric, is soiled, or does not fit the bride.
You could want to line your gown and patch any tears or rips onto the lining if it is particularly delicate.
Another option is to wear a delicate gown just for the ceremony and switch to something more sturdy for the reception.
Then again, you may follow the example of one family and make an exact replica of the dress to wear to the reception.
In some cases, the original colour of an antique dress can be preserved.
Given that silk's inherent colour is not white, it's unlikely that vintage fabrics would have seemed completely pure.
White silk is silk that has been coloured after it has been extracted from the cocoon.
You may find that the uniformly aged fabric of your gown, be it silk, rayon, cotton, or something else else, has a gorgeous hue which only time could give it.
However, stains are an entirely separate issue, and the attractiveness of your antique gown will be diminished by things like huge brown sweat stains under the sleeves or uneven brown smudges from sugar spills like champagne.
Such stains are not eliminated by dry cleaning, however they may be removed.
A water-based solution is the only thing that will get rid of them, thus the entire dress will have to be dyed again.
Water can dissolve the oxidation that colours a heritage gown, so if only the blemishes are removed, the parts that have been brown will be white.
Therefore, you will need to decide between an old gown with stains and one that has been restored to its original colour if the blemishes cannot be hidden with lace or any other adornment.
You may not be able to wear your ancestor's wedding gown even if your body type is very similar to the original bride's.
Because you were probably much more active as a child, your dress may need to be altered so that it fits over your wider chest and shoulders.
If your gown needs to be increased and the fabric is an heirloom, the skirt is the greatest place to look for extra material.
A new seam at the centre back will provide enough cloth for gussets to increase the side seams of a very full skirt.
Otherwise, you might need to replace the current fabric with something that works better with the existing one.
MyDressBox is are wedding dress cleaning and preservation specialists servicing all major cities in Australia and New Zealand, including Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sunshine Coast, Wollongong, Geelong and many more.
Conclusion
The average wedding dress that is restored was purchased at least 15 years prior.
How a vintage wedding dress is fixed depends on factors like how much the fabric has faded, frayed, and been stained.
Your gown should be examined by a team of fabric experts so that they can identify the materials used in its construction.
Wedding dress alterations are priced according to the dress's complexity (how many layers it has, how elaborate the embellishments are, and how long the train is).
The gown's condition and the complexity of the necessary restoration process will decide the final cost.
Cleaning a wedding dress properly involves taking into account the fabric and any embellishments.
It is recommended that you have a professional cleaner handle the cleaning of your wedding dress.
Our experts will examine your gown, clean it, and return it to you in pristine shape.
Recently, there have been great strides made in the preservation of wedding dresses, rendering much of the earlier effort unnecessary.
Most wedding gowns can be brought back to their former splendour, but you should get yours checked out first.
Content Summary
- You are at the point in wedding preparations that you need to start thinking about the dress.
- Wedding dress restoration typically entails bringing back to life a dress that was purchased 15 years ago or more for a wedding.
- Get your hands on a pro who can examine your dress and help you weigh your options.
- Make sure the fabric and details of your bridal dress are checked.
- Check the lace and beadwork for any missing or loose pieces that need to be fixed.
- Try taking a whiff of your bridal gown.
- Determine which dry cleaning service specialises in cleaning wedding attire.
- The dry cleaners will analyse your classic wedding dress to determine the best cleaning process.
- If you want your wedding dress cleaned securely, it's best to take it to a professional cleaner.
- You should get wedding gown preservation kits to help you restore the classic wedding dress you want to wear on your big day.
- After having your historic wedding dress restored, you will have to find a secure location to keep it.
- You should keep your wedding dress in a cool, dry, and pest-free location.
- The delicate fabrics used to make historical wedding dresses (and modern wedding dresses, for that matter) have one major flaw: they yellow over time.
- Materials used to make wedding dresses, such as silk, satin, and taffeta, are fragile natural materials that degrade in the presence of oxygen over time if not properly cared for.
- Most wedding dresses may be restored to their former glory, but before you have yours done, it's a good idea to have it checked out.
- As with all organic materials, the delicate fibres in your wedding gown begin to degrade immediately.
- Investing in a wedding gown restoration kit has helped numerous families retrieve their lost memories.
- In some cases, the original colour of an antique dress can be preserved.
- Such stains are not eliminated by dry cleaning, however they may be removed.
- A water-based solution is the only thing that will get rid of them, thus the entire dress will have to be dyed again.
- Therefore, you will need to decide between an old gown with stains and one that has been restored to its original colour if the blemishes cannot be hidden with lace or any other adornment.
- If your gown needs to be increased and the fabric is an heirloom, the skirt is the greatest place to look for extra material.
FAQS ABOUT WEDDING DRESS RESTORATION
How long does it take to restore a wedding dress?
Your restored wedding gown will be ready for you to pick up in 6-10 weeks.
Can you reuse a preserved wedding dress?
Yes. Having a future family member honour her by wearing her wedding dress at their own wedding is a common motivation for brides to have their gowns professionally cleaned and preserved.
What does it mean to get your wedding dress preserved?
The term "preservation" refers to the extra steps taken to guarantee your gown preserves its lustre after cleaning and before being stored. A trained conservator will examine your gown, noting its fabric, any decorations, and any stains, before developing a customised cleaning plan.
How much does it cost to remake a wedding dress?
Alterations to the average bridal dress might run anywhere from $150 to $600. There could be an additional cost of up to $1,000 for alterations to your gown or to update your mother's clothing. Alterations may be included in the initial price or offered as an additional service at some bridal boutiques and tailors.
What can you make out of an old wedding dress?
The gown could also be repurposed into something else, like an evening dress or a garment for children. Quilts, holiday ornaments, album covers, and toss cushions all make wonderful souvenirs that honour the dress's history.