I put my wedding dress in the washing machine....

[NewChoos]

because I was sick of 'send dress away to be cleaned' remaining unticked on my to do list.

I can report back that it washed well and looks absolutely fine.

Just popped it on a warm wash inside a duvet cover to protect the beading.
I don't appear to have lost any beading and it's almost spotless.

Just thought I'd share in case any one else tempted.

Disclaimer: If it had shrunk, I wouldn't have been too upset, I doubt DS will want to wear it in the future :)

Hmmmm.. I would really need to see it and touch it to be sure ..so I will say no. We wash many silk dresses ( evening types that are trashed) and they are fine but 'proper' silk wedding dresses do need to be dry cleaned as a rule.

bish notice I still have a few marks on the hem. Ok to store or should I wash again?

Thanks for all the advice :)

Please can I hijack to ask a question about steaming/pressing silk wedding dresses???

I'm opening a bridal studio at home and I will be selling both polyester and silk dresses, so I need to buy a steamer but I don't know what to buy. Any recommendations?

And.... Is there anything I can do about heavy creasing to a silk taffeta dress that I need to send out to a bride to try on at home (as she lives too far away to come and try on)?? I want to iron it, but it was expensive and is my only sample of a very very popular style so I am scared....

Thanks (and apologies for major hijack).

Always twigs in the bottom..almost mandatory ;) .... If you have washed it then that's fine.. I expect the marks are ground in and won't come out ( this is normal) none of the dresses wash up perfectly unless they only got married a week or two ago..most dresses are more like 6 months to 3 years since they were used.

Emsyj ..I think most steamers do the same thing. My sister works runs a charity shop and they have an industrial one that always looks like it does a good job.. I don't think you can hurt the dress with steam just avoid the beads ( apologies if you know this) ..also don't hold the steamer nossle to close to the dress ( again apologies if obvious)

I don't know anything at all, so all advice is welcome! So the steam can't leave water spots or anything? It is quite a heavy pure silk taffeta but it is very very creased from transit depsite it having been hung for about 5 weeks. There's no beading on it at all so that's not a worry. Does the fabric go limp when steamed?

(Sorry feel free to tell me to piss off for taking liberties with all these q's)

Do you think a £40 home steamer would do or do I need to buy an industrial one for ££££?

Fabric shouldn't go limp.. I wouldn't scrimp to be honest as I think you will be using it alot .. You need to avoid getting the dress very wet as it will leave water marks .. Whereabouts are you?

Yes I agree - I have just spent so much money already so I am weeping at the thought of another big bill for a steamer

I'm on the Wirral.

Oh nowhere near me...we have a great engineer who may have helped .. Never mind.. I'm fraud I don't know much about them as we use irons running off a boiler but I would make sure it's designed for delicates.

Afraid .. Not fraud ...feel free to inbox me if you have any questions.

I have seen one by Propress that is specifically for bridal work, but it is £££££££££££££ - seriously beyond what I can pay at the moment really. Oh dear. I may have to just bite the bullet and get it anyway.

((sigh))

Thanks for your help.

Did you use normal detergent and if you did was is bio or non-bio? My dress says I can wash on 40 degree wash (wish I'd noticed this 2 years ago which is when I wore it haha!), but not to use detergent which has OBA in it, but I haven't got a clue what OBA is!

Haven't read the tread but most wedding dresses are made of polyester ( they call it poly satin ) and wash way way better than they dry clean .
I'm an ex dry cleaner and we washed about 98% of dresses with the owners knowledge . We always washed them in a big washer though and they always came up sparkly and clean .

Oh I see this is an old thread and I've already posted 😂😂

So I've got myself a sprakly clean dress after following everyone's advice (and with lots of help from my Mum!)

1. Soaked the heavy staining (dirt on the bottom of the dress and makeup/tan from the bust) with vanish and gently massaged (repeated a few times).
2. Popped inside a duvet cover and washed it at a launderette for £7.50 on a 40 degree wash.

It's now like new and I'm thrilled as I was facing the prospect of having it dry cleaned for a minimum of £100 and no guarantee the stains would come out. It has netting, lace, applique and satin on it so I was so pleased it could just be washed (it did actually say so after all on the washing instructions).

I did the same. All fine. Though clearly not made of silk!

I wasted £140 getting my wedding dress dry cleaned - it came back in a box and looked like it was presented well, but the bottom of the dress was grey where they didn’t get the stains out and looked old. I decided to let it soak in the bath with vanish instead and then put it in the washing machine and it came out so clean and sparkly. So much better than dry-cleaning. My dress is a Maggie Sottero and has lots of embellishments and it was completely fine. Expensive dry cleaning of wedding dresses is such a con! Check the label of your dress. If it is polyester like mine, it will probably be fine washing at home.
Good luck!