gown cleaning advice needed

[Gunda]

Hello,
I recently, much to my satisfaction, purchased a short sleeve, empire waist gown with embroidered bodice. The skirt, however, is irridescent taffetta and the label admonishes to "dryclean only." :( What say you all? Will I be stuck taking this thing to the cleaners if I get the barest stain on the skirt, or can you recomend a household stain remover that could enable me to clean it in the normal wash and save on laundry bills? I apologize if this is a dumb question, but I'm just starting out and my knowledge of fabrics is the level of the neophyte that I am.

Thanks,
Best,
Gunda

[Colibri]

Ah one of the pitfalls of buying items made from more then one fabric. If you wear the dress a lot you can end up paying more for it in dry cleaning then the dress was to start with. You can try a spray on spot removal but be careful what fabric you can use it on. Never put it in a water wash as water alone can spoil it.

[Jonien]

I' m sorry to have to tell you this but even light sponging on Taffetta can leave a water mark

but there are products on the market that you can put in a tumble dryer that act like a dry cleaner.

havent had to try it on a stain but it shure works to freshen up a dress and jaket of mine.:luvu:

[cindybarnes]

Hi Gunda,
Having owned a dry cleaners the last 5 years I can suggest you dont try removing spots by experimenting. You may get lucky and remove a spot but the drycleaning chemical Perc. ( for short) will remove the rest of the spot remover from the material. Then you still need to deal with any wrinkles, irons will melt most material like that so things like that are pulled over something called a suzie where steam is blown through to remove the wrinkles.
A good dry cleaner will have several spot removers for different stains and materials, and its usualy worth it to have nice things done professionaly.
I just retired from that buisness last week so will be paying for my things now like everyone else :( But did think ahead and had everything done while I could.

Hope this helps a little

Cindy