Essential Expert Tips on
Prom Dress Care

Dry Cleaning is the best way to have your prom dress cleaned. It is the ultimate in prom dress care and will extend the life of your gown.

If you have your gown dry cleaned it will maintain its fresh and new appearance for much longer and won't fade the color as quickly, as well as extending the life of the fabric.

If you accidentally get a stain on your prom gown the best tip is to deal with it immediately (or as soon as you can). The longer you leave it the harder it is to remove it. Try to identify what the stain is so that you can tell your drycleaner.

Some stains are quite easy to remove with an all purpose stain remover such as club soda, lemon juice, baking soda or salt.

Always treat the fabric in a hidden area first to make sure it doesn't leave a water mark or damage the fabric or make the dye run.

Rub the stain from the back of the fabric not the front. This reduces the visible damage to the fabric from rubbing.

Always follow the manufacturer's care instructions and rinse the stain removal product carefully from the fabric.

Never dry or iron a stained dress until the stain has been fully removed.

Don't ever rub a stain, but blot it or scrape it to prevent it getting into the fabric. Use a clean white towel if you have one to blot the stain.

Always follow the instructions on stain removal products and NEVER EVER mix chlorine bleach with ammonia!! (Ask your science teacher why!)

Prom make up is always a sure thing for staining your gown. Maybe because this night above all others is when you will be wearing it! Anyway make up stains like eye shadow, lipstick or mascara should be dampened with warm water and rubbed with a little liquid detergent. Rub the detergent directly into the stain and then rinse and pat dry. Wash the garment in the hottest water the label recommends or take it straight to the dry cleaners.

If you've ordered your prom dress online, it will arrive with a few wrinkles. Hang it up straight away and make sure it has room to breathe. Be sure it has nothing touching it that will make it wrinkle. But if the wrinkles still don't drop out, don't panic...

Take your prom dress to the dry cleaners to have it professionally pressed or steamed. Or you can use a dry iron at home with a piece of white cloth over the fabric to protect it from the hot iron.

Another special little prom dress care tip - to keep your dress from wrinkling in the car, push most of the fabric to the side so that you are sitting on as little fabric as possible.

Follow these little prom dress care tips and if you still have a stain that you can't remove, take your gown to the dry cleaners for some help and further advice. This is why it is so important to know what the stain is so that the dry cleaner can apply one of the million types of cleaning fluids they use!

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