Caring for Vintage 1960s Beaded and Sequined Garments

1960s sequined dress

I recently received an email from Couture Allure fan Michel.

"I have been collecting vintage pieces for a couple of years now, and I am addicted to the beautiful beaded pieces done in Hong Kong in the 1960s.  My collection is becoming a bit embarrassing in its vastness.

How should I care for these pieces?  Can the wool shell tops and cardigans (the vast bulk of what I have) be very gently hand-washed?  

I have been very pleased with my dry cleaner (local folks who have been in business for years) as they have cared for other vintage pieces, but they have been reluctant to tackle the beaded stuff, beyond a nice steaming, and they have warned me that dry-cleaning can damage sequins.  Surely the lovely ladies who wore these things back in the 60s had some method to clean them ... 

After I have cleaned my lovelies, how best to store them?  At present I have them wrapped in acid free lignin free tissue paper, inside moth-proof bags (plastic) from the cleaners.  They are lying flat in plastic storage bins, under my bed.  Is it OK to have them in all that plastic, or do they need something that allows them to breathe more?  Any tips for keeping the moths away, other than the moth proof bags?  I do also have a few of them in a cedar chest."

Michel graciously agreed to allow me to answer her questions here on the blog so I can share the information with all of you.  She sent along some photos of her lovely collection for you to see.  There are lots of questions to deal with here, so let's just jump right in!

1960s sweater with beads and paillettes

Michel, I would advise against hand washing any of your lovely 1960s beaded garments.  While I can understand your dry cleaner's reluctance to clean them, my cleaner has had excellent results with cleaning the beaded and sequined garments I take to them.  Eda, my cleaning expert, tells me that older sequins from the 1950s and 60s were much better made than modern ones and most will not fade or chip like the new ones do.  Eda does treat my sequined and beaded garments with care, always placing each garment in a separate bag and cleaning it on a gentle cycle.  I've only had issues with a couple of garments getting damaged through this process, and it was on garments that weren't made very well to begin with.  As long as you trust your cleaner, I would take a leap of faith with one of your garments (perhaps one you wouldn't feel too bad losing) and let her try putting it through the cleaning process.  I think you'll both be happy with the results. 

Detail of above sweater

There are several reasons to NOT wash these garments at home.
-     The wool knit base is likely to shrink a bit and blocking the garment back to the original shape will be difficult with all the sequins and beads.
-     All those beads and sequins will make a wet wool garment very heavy and it can easily stretch out of shape.
-     Rhinestones and silver lined beads do not react well to water and are likely to discolor.
-    Rayon should never be washed at home.  It will shrink!

1960s beaded lace and wool sweater

As for how to store your garments, folded and flat is ideal so they don't stretch.  Please don't store your treasures in plastic!  Wrapping them in acid-free tissue paper is a great idea or unbleached, un-dyed muslin will work too. Instead of plastic bins, your collection deserves to be stored in acid-free storage boxes like these.    Always be sure your garment is cleaned before storing for a long period of time.  The 4 watchwords for clothing storage are Clean, Cool, Dark, and Dry.  Avoid storing garments that have not been cleaned.  Keep them in a cool, dark place.  And be sure they are not exposed to humidity or dampness that will encourage mildew.

One final word of warning:  Sequins on older garments from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s should never be cleaned.  They are often made of gelatin and will melt when exposed to water or other liquids.

I hope that helps, Michel.  Thanks for asking and for sharing your photos with us!

How to Find a Good Dry Cleaner for Your Vintage Garments

My post last week about dry cleaning garnered a lot of reaction and a lot of questions from both sellers and buyers. The most frequent question was, "How can I find a dry cleaner I can trust with my vintage clothing?" Here are some tips to help you in your search.

This cleaner has been around since 1934!

1. Avoid franchise cleaners at all cost! Anyone can buy a machine and say they are a dry cleaner. Look for a small family-owned business that has been around for a long time, preferably one that has cleaned the type of garments you want to give them when they weren't considered vintage, but new! Ask if there is an expert dry cleaning technician on staff who has training in stain removal. A fancy storefront isn't necessary, but the premises should be neat and clean. Be sure to choose a cleaner who does the work in-house instead of sending your clothes out to be cleaned somewhere else.

2. Check with local vintage stores or dealers for a recommendation of a good dry cleaner that they use. If you live near a museum with a textile collection or a school with a fashion history course, try asking for a recommendation from someone on staff.

3. Once you've located a cleaner you want to try, check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints about the dry cleaner. Also, check online review sites such as Yelp or Google for reviews from customers. Ask neighbors or friends who may have used the service.

4. Take a test garment to be cleaned. Choose a vintage garment that you haven't spent a lot of money on so you won't be out too much if it doesn't work out. Stick with something in wool or cotton, as these fibers are more forgiving, but choose something with a detail that will need attention. Don't choose a satin or taffeta garment for this first test. Evaluate the counter service. Tell the person this garment is vintage and ask if it can receive special care. Is the person at the counter knowledgeable? Even better, is it the owner? If not, did they ask for help from an on-staff expert or the owner? When you pick up the garment, check it thoroughly to be sure you are happy with the results. Does the garment hang correctly? Was the steaming/pressing done with care? Did any stains come out to your satisfaction?

5. If you're happy with the results, take a second test garment to be cleaned. This time, choose a fancier garment in satin or taffeta. Ask that it be steamed instead of pressed, as pressing can make impressions from the seams in these fabrics. The cleaner should be amenable to this request. If you are happy with the results, I think you've found a cleaner you can work with! If not, keep looking.

And if you're in the Boston area, I highly recommend my dry cleaner - Surf Cleaners in Winthrop!

The Issue of Dry Cleaning

I was speaking with a fellow vintage dealer recently and she asked me, "Why do you dry clean everything before you sell it?". My unspoken response was, "Why don't you?"

In the interest of full disclosure, back when I sold on eBay, I didn't dry clean vintage garments before selling them. But knowing what I do now, I wish I had. When I started my website, I began sending just about everything to my dry cleaner before selling. I am lucky enough to have a professional cleaner who knows how to work with vintage, and who takes great care with the garments I entrust to him. Even so, it amazes me how much hidden damage dry cleaning will bring to light, which is why I think you should only spend your hard earned dollars on a garment that has already been cleaned before you purchase it. Personally, I feel that if there is going to be a problem that gets exposed with dry cleaning, I want it to be my problem, not yours.

This 1950s silk dress is a great example. Early deodorants were not as effective as today's products, and antiperspirants did not come into common use until the 1960s. As a result, unless the original owner used dress shields or had her garment dry cleaned before storing, the fabric at the underarms of a vintage garment is sometimes fragile. The silk of this dress looked fine when I gave it to the dry cleaner, but it didn't stand up to gentle cleaning and came back looking like this. Damage from fabric that is weakened at the shoulders will also show up during dry cleaning.

Be wary of a wool garment that hasn't been cleaned. When moths chew on wool, they leave behind a residue that will often hold the fabric together until it is cleaned away. This dress had one tiny moth nip at the shoulder when I sent it off to be cleaned. It came back with a lot more holes, including this cluster at the front waist that was invisible when I purchased the dress.

This 1960s cotton dress was vivid black and white when I sent it to the cleaners. Unfortunately, the fabric was not colorfast and the black faded to gray with lots of white specks when cleaned.

None of these issues was readily apparent before the garments were cleaned. And can you imagine how disappointed you, as a customer, would be if your dress had come back from your dry cleaner damaged like that, before you even had a chance to wear it?

Dry cleaning will expose weakened thread, which means the seams will need to be resewn. There are some odors, from moth balls, cedar closets, or cigarette smoke, that are so deeply embedded into the fibers, dry cleaning will not help. These odors may need an ozone treatment before a garment is suitable to sell. And if you have allergies, you should be wary of an uncleaned garment which harbors decades of dust, as well as other nasty stuff you don't want to know about.

Freshly dry cleaned garments waiting to be listed at Couture Allure.

Many sellers claim that they have "dry cleaned" a garment at home before selling it to you. This probably means they have sprayed the garment with Febreze, which just puts a layer of scent on top of the dirt, or they have put the garment through a Dryel cycle in their clothes dryer, which has just baked the years of dust and dirt into the fabric. Neither of these methods brings you a clean garment. Learn to read between the lines before buying. And don't trust that old standby, "Has spots that will come out with cleaning." Really? I can tell you with certainty that yellowed underarm stains, lipstick smears, and scattered brown spots called "foxing" will not come out of fine fabrics that need to be dry cleaned. Also be wary of a seller who claims they wash everything before selling. Hand or machine washing will ruin fabrics like taffeta, satin, and rayon crepe that must be professionally cleaned.

Freshly dry cleaned garments waiting to be listed at Couture Allure

If you're shopping at a vintage website, and the seller does not state that their garments have been dry cleaned before being offered for sale, email the site owner and ask if that dress you love has been cleaned, and if so, how. If the site owner tells you it has not, consider whether you want to take a chance. And ask if the site owner will stand behind their product if the garment comes back from your dry cleaner damaged.

Here's our dry cleaning policy at Couture Allure:
We have almost all of our items dry cleaned before offering them for sale so that your purchase is ready-to-wear when you receive it. Washable items will come to you freshly laundered and ready to wear. Even though cottons are washable, we often have these items dry cleaned to avoid shrinkage and fading, and to maintain a crisp finish to the garment. Exceptions to our dry cleaning policy include items with fur trim, fur coats, leather garments, items with non-permanent accordion pleats, or items with elaborate trims that our dry cleaner refuses.

Think about it. Why would anyone spend $300 on a dress that still has traces of someone else's white deodorant at the underarms? Ewwwwwww.