You can ask a Princess anything but to be “quite as a mouse”! The ultimate test for a Princess dress is another Princess’ Birthday: even if you follow a tight protocol, your Princess will have to jump to avoid the witches’ traps, run to capture the Unicorns, crawl to hide from Dragons, and her dress will inevitably bear the stigmata of all these adventures. It will be wrinkled, torn, covered with stains and whenever possible, dragged through the mud.
Lace inlays, precious silks, pearl fabrics and sequined tulle will suffer from these unusual treatments and although our Princess dresses are renowned for their strength, we do not recommend that you throw them in your washing machine with ordinary detergent and a high temperature program. Even detergents for delicate textiles and fabric softeners may contain products that irritate the skin of young children.
If your Princess dress contains glitter tulle or pearl fabric, machine or dry cleaning may cause it to lose its glitter and irreparably damage the pearls. Hand cleaning is then strongly recommended.
If you machine wash your princess dress, lock it in a pillowcase or a tight mesh net and choose a low temperature program (20° or “wool”), with minimum power spin. Preferably use a natural detergent based on Marseille soap flakes and dry your dress hanging on a large hanger or inflatable to avoid deforming it. This type of “gentle” washing will not remove the toughest stains of grease, ink, fruit or chocolate, but it may be suitable for mud stains.
Of course, a dry cleaner specializing in wedding dresses could provide a satisfactory service but you could also get an excellent result at a lower cost with some manual work.
If you wash your Princess dress by hand, you will immerse your dress in a basin filled with hot water (between 20° and 40°) and Marseille soap. Gently stir your dress and rinse it with a hand shower, then dry it between two towels and hang it on a large or inflatable hanger.
Should your dress be stained with grease, fruit or chocolate, it may sometimes be necessary to treat these stains before washing. As a general rule, simply rub a damp sponge impregnated with Marseille soap, leave on for about twenty minutes and dab with a cloth impregnated with water and white vinegar in the following proportions: 20 centilitres of vinegar per 1 litre of water.
For lace dresses, after hand-washing them with Marseille soap, rinsing with water mixed with white vinegar and drying between two towels, hang them on a hanger with large or inflatable shoulder pads to avoid unattractive folds.
Satin dresses, washed at a very low temperature with a special wool soap, should be rinsed in water containing a small amount of white vinegar to restore their shine. The same treatment should be applied to silk dresses which should always be washed by hand.
Cotton voile petticoats should always be washed with water and Marseille soap. They tolerate machine washing and higher temperatures.
Satin or silk dresses can lose their finish after washing. To restore their shine, simply spray a little starch on the fabric before it dries completely. I advise you to apply the same treatment to tulle skirts after washing and drying flat.
Do not iron your muslin dresses by pressing your iron firmly against the fabric, but use a damp cloth instead without ever crushing the fabric.
Store your Princess dresses in a white, opaque cover to protect them from dust and daylight likely to fade the colours.
You will keep your Princess dress just perfect for a long, long time.