ballroom dresses are many women's most precious possessions, and so we're going to examine the way to keep them that way. It is in your best interests to try and preserve the dresses you really love because it is not always easy to find replacements you like, and it is certainly costly to have to do so. Take the time and effort and you will be well rewarded.
Firstly, your ballroom dresses need to be hung in a dry location with a good amount of room all around them to reduce creasing. Ideally they should each have a protective plastic cover. A dark-colored cover is far better than a clear one as this will help stop the cloth fading from exposure to the sunlight. Just to be sure, keep them away from strong light too. Leaving the cover's zip unfastened permits the dress to stay aired, helping to make certain that the dress does not grow to be damp and mildew to form.
Moving on from how to store our ballroom dance dresses, let's now look at the best way to care for them in terms of keeping them clean and well-presented. The care instructions supplied by the manufacturer or your dress-maker are an excellent place to start.
So, what's the best way to wash your dresses, assuming that they are suitable to wash? Should you use a washing machine- or hand-wash? Generally-speaking, Lycra and georgette are suitable to be machine-washed as is much practice dancewear, but only if there are no embellishments or other bits that might drop off in the wash. Whichever way you choose to wash your dresses, to avoid shrinkage, it is best to opt for a very cool temperature. No more than 30 degrees Centigrade should be all right.
Pre-wash treatments can be effective for heavy stains. You have to be particularly careful if the dress has dark-colored satin bias binding because this can stain the fabric. So you have to be painstaking in making certain that the binding and the fabric do not touch each other while still damp. This may sound like overkill, but you will be happy you did it.
If you are wanting to know exactly why you should not wash your ballroom dresses if they have any sort of embellishments or decorations, then consider what could happen. First of all, glue can dissolve and your embellishments fall off. What is more, your stones could damage the fabric of your gown and indeed, they could well become lackluster during washing. It is not worth taking the risk.
So what do you do if you are unable to wash your ballroom dresses, but you would like to freshen them up and maybe take out the creases? It could be feasible to hand-wash a body suit only. In this situation, you have got to do it with the dress turned inside out and be especially careful to use cold water and gentle soap only. Rinse out in cold water and allow to drip dry. If you can't wash the any part of the dress, then you can have a shot at hanging it in a steamy place, for example from the shower rail.
Washing ballroom dresses is always fraught with danger. If your garment is particularly heavy when wet, it is probably best to place it over a clothes horse to give it some extra support and help prevent stretching. On the other hand, it could be hung over your bath to drip dry.
Now let's examine the tricky subject of ironing. If you can avoid it, then you should do so. Again, pay close attention to the maker's instructions. Synthetic fabrics are notorious for burning easily, so use a very cool temperature.
If you treat your ballroom dresses with care and common sense, then your efforts will be rewarded and they will serve you so much the longer.