How To Take The Best Care Of Your Favorite Ballroom Dresses
In this article, we are going to to examine the best way to care for our treasured ballroom dresses. Let’s face it, you have taken the trouble to find the ones that really suit you and your style of dancing, so you really owe it to yourself to ensure that they are going still to look their best over the coming years. Take the time and effort and you will be well rewarded.
Firstly, your ballroom dresses should be hung in a dry location with plenty of room all around them to prevent creasing. Preferably they should each have a protective plastic cover. A dark-colored cover is better than a clear one as this will help prevent the fabric fading from being exposed to the sunlight. Just to be sure, keep them away from strong natural light too. Leaving the cover’s zip unfastened enables the dress to stay aired, helping to make sure that the dress does not grow to be damp and mildew to form.
When it comes to ballroom dancing dresses care, it goes without saying that you should check out and follow any instructions provided with the dress.
The chances are that if it’s practice dancewear with no embellishments or trimmings, then it might be machine-washable and almost certainly hand-washable. In either event, wash in cold water with a mild detergent. All colored clothes should be washed in a diifferent load from whites and lighter-colored ones, otherwise the color can run and spoil them. For competition dancing clothes, again if they are not finished with decorations such as stones and beads, you can try hand or a very cool machine wash – no more than 30 degrees Centigrade – to avoid shrinkage. Generally-speaking, it’s all right to machine-wash fabrics such as georgette and Lycra, commonly used in ballroom dance dresses.
If there are heavy stains, then think about using a pre-wash mark remover treatment too. You have to be particularly careful if the dress has dark-colored satin bias binding because this can stain the material. So you have to be meticulous in making sure that the binding and the material do not touch each other when still damp. This could appear like too much, but you will be happy you did it.
If you are questioning exactly why you should not launder your ballroom dresses if they have any type of stones or trimmings, then consider what can easily arise. To start with, glue can dissolve and your stones fall off. What’s more, your stones could harm the fabric of your gown and at the very least, they could well become dull during washing. It is not really worth taking the risk.
Ballroom dresses can be freshened up by hanging them in a steamy atmosphere. This will additionally help to smooth out creases. If a dress requires more than a steam, you can cautiously wash the body suit by hand but with the gown turned inside out. Don’t forget to use a mild detergent and cold water. Rinse out in cold water and do not wring the dress out before hanging it up to dry. If you have had to wash your ballroom dress in water, allow it to drip dry over the bath tub. If the dress is exceptionally weighty when wet, it might be a good strategy to drape it over a clothes horse. This will help to prevent the fabric from stretching. This would be irreversible. Remember that fringe dresses can take three to four days to dry completely! So do not wait till the last moment to wash it, if you need it for a special occasion.
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. Do not even think about ironing stretchy fabrics.
It is always a little worrying when you have invested time and money into buying ballroom dresses , that you may not be able to look after them properly. However, if you take note of the care instructions and the advice given in this article, then you stand a good chance of keeping them looking beautiful for longer.
