It is thrilling to be asked to serve in a wedding as a flower girl, junior bridesmaid, or ring-bearer. What a treat, and how special to know that you are so well liked by a grown up other than Mom or Dad! And, Mom and Dad are probably bursting with excitement to dress up their new baby in an all silk christening ensemble and present him to the great world of loving family and friends. Within all these very important and very beautiful life celebrations, there is a tiny contradiction in what is practical and what makes us all â€ooooooooo†and â€ahhhhhhhh†concerning children in traditional dress. This contradiction is children in all white dresses or all white suits. Yes, little children with hands in the buffet table and fingers in their noses, wearing hard to clean all white dresses made of silks, taffetas, satins, and lace. Since we are in the business of dressing children for special events for more than 10 years, we will share some tricks of the trade concerning how to keep white dresses white. White dresses are the most popular color for flower girl dress, christening dresses, graduation dresses, recital dresses, and cotillion dance dresses. The most common soiling of white dresses and suits by children comes from finger smudges or having the hemline drag on a dirty floor. These markings on white dresses are faint gray to brown finger print sizes smudges and smears along the hemline. The good news is that this dirt is not deeply implanted in the garment as the pressure causing the spots is minimal. This type of dirty can easily result from just trying on white dresses. What to do? First, find a clean cloth rag that is smooth (no terrycloth or facecloths), lightweight (no discarded sweat-socks). Something the weight of a T-shirt or tea towel. Second, get a clean coffee cup or drinking glass. Fill that glass with some warm water and lightly dip a finger tip covered with your cloth into the water. Be sure the finger tip is just a little damp. Now, gently rub that smudge or dirty hemline. Usually, the dirt will lift easily with this action. If it does not, empty your cup of warm water and add about 2 to 3 tiny drips of Dawn dish washing liquid (the old fashion blue kind). Now run warm water again to nearly fill a coffee cup, or to fill a drinking glass half way. The water should be sudsy. Repeat the same gently rubbing with this formula. If those are new smudges or hemline drag marks of the ordinary variety, white dresses and suits of most materials should become clean. Always, be careful of watermarks that can occur once the garment dries. This is why the spot cleaning of white dresses and suits requires only a damp cloth, not a wet one. Should you get the dirty spot a little too wet, do not panic. Apply a dry, clean paper towel with pressure to absorb what you can and safely hang the garment in bright sunshine. The faster the spot dries, the less likely it is to leave a water mark on white dresses. If you did use a few drops of washing-up liquid, you may need to rub again with clean water to â€rinseâ€, then let white dresses dry to avoid watermarks. What about the â€horror story†types of spots on white dresses. What about pink punch on the bodice or lipstick on the neckline? What about colored markers and spaghetti sauce? Sadly, many of these spots may not be easily removed from white dresses. For all of the messy spots that may fall on white dresses and fancy suits, the first plan of attack is to remove and absorb what you can by dry methods. So, scrape of the thick portion of a spaghetti sauce spot. A clean spoon, scraped over the mess with the long edge of the â€spoon bowl†removes a lot of muck. Then, with gentle pressure, apply a clean paper towel to absorb what else you can of the mess. Be careful to keep a stained garment from heat and sunshine, which can further â€set†the stain. Now, go get your cup of warm water with Dawn dishwashing liquid. This time, use as much as one teaspoon washing liquid in the warm water. Begin gently rubbing and watching for improvement in the stain. If it seems to be lifting, then repeat the process for dirty white dresses until the stain is no longer visible. If the diluted solution is not working, then dampen the spot a bit more (do not soak it) and cover the stain with full strength Dawn. Let this sit for at least half an hour. Then carefully rinse the garment, trying to saturate only the soiled spot. Rub gently. If there is improvement, you may repeat this process again and again. Be very gently with rubbing to avoid pilling on white dresses made of delicate materials. Of course, these white dresses are now very wet. So, blot them carefully with clean paper towels and hang them in the direct sunlight to dry quickly. If water marks form on the white dresses, then you will need to slightly dampen and dry the garment again and again until the water marks are removed. A few more tricks for spotted white dresses are: 1.) automatic dish detergent contains a small amount of bleach and stays snuggly on small stains affecting white dresses. Do not use this on natural silk white dresses, some materials may yellow with bleach. Let the gel sit on the stain that is dampened. If it causes fading, repeat the process every 60 minutes. Do not leave on overnight or yellowing may occur. 2.) Baking soda and a spot of peroxide is an old remedy for stains. Dust the spot with a bit of baking soda, and then drop a few drops of peroxide. You will need to rinse and dry carefully to avoid watermarks. 3.) For heritage laces and vintage cotton garments, Biz bleach in powder form is a wonder at relieving yellowing from age and rust spots. Soak the garment carefully according to package instructions. 4.) When all else fails, go to a trusted professional cleaner for help in making dirty white dresses white again.
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