Worn by a mother and then her daughter 30 years later, a stained and yellowed dress is revived.

A 1950's wedding dress worn by both mother and daughter. Both were such beautiful brides! This lovely dress was first worn by Elaine for the wedding of her and Basil for their January 3rd ceremony in 1959 which took place in Joliet, Illinois. 30 years later, Amy was engaged to David and Amy hoped to wear her mother's dress, but it was too small in the rib cage and waist. Elaine had superb sewing skills and was able to take some fabric from the full skirt and added bodice side panels and happily Amy was then able to wear the dress for her wedding. Amy and David met at her first job out of college at the Illinois State Medical Society and the wedding took place in Chicago, Illinois on May 20, 1989. They will be soon be celebrating their 37th anniversary! Elaine and Basil were married for 55 years until Basil's passing in 2014. The dress is fashioned from what I believe is an acetate taffeta and as found had general oxidation as well as some staining on the lace. An initial round in Retro Wash with a bit of Dawn and washing soda helped to clean and brighten and then a prolonged 20 hour soak in sodium perborate finished the stain removal and brightened further. Lukewarm water temperatures were used. I’ve cleaned hundreds of vintage wedding dresses and there are still surprises that happen-the button loops breaking was one such surprise as that has never happened before. Thank you Amy for donating this beautiful dress worn by both you and your mother! It is ready once again for another special day and I'm curious where it will go next on its journey! #beforeandafter #howto #vintageclothescleaning #vintageweddingdresscleaning #yellowed