Tips for Looking Great This New Year’s Eve

Are you all ready with a fabulous outfit to ring in 2013? Enjoy the party, but with the festivities spills, splashes, and other party-time mishaps, as well as wear alone, can take their toll on these expensive items.

Many formal wear garments are made of luxurious fabrics, such as taffeta, moire, satin, organza, metallic prints, silk, and velvet. Each of these fabrics require care in both wear and cleaning. Here are some tips to keep that outfit looking great:

• Treat stains immediately to avoid damage.
• Blot stains; do not rub. Rubbing a spot on sheer fabrics, such as organza, can cause the yarns to slip, tear the fabric, or chafe the fabric surface.
• Shake excess spills from velvets and allow to dry. Do not blot or apply any pressure in damp areas.
• Satin (especially smooth satin), taffeta, and metallic fabrics are especially susceptible to abrasion damage and snagging. Take care when wearing jewelry or around rough edges.
• Perfume, deodorant, hair spray, and makeup can be damaging to these fabrics. Apply before you dress and make sure everything is completely dry.
• After the party is over, remember to have your formal wear cleaned before storage.

Customer Question: Incredible Shrinking Comforter

Q I washed a comforter that shrank. What happened?

A Some natural relaxation shrinkage can show up after cleaning household items such as comforters, bedspreads, and blankets. There is usually a fullness of the backing or shell fabric, causing a puckered appearance. Also, any piping borders, quilting stitches, and seams may be rippled or distorted.

Although many factors can contribute to this type of shrinkage, the major cause is the original fabric not being properly preshrunk or stabilized before the article was constructed. When this occurs, the latent strains of relaxation will appear during any acceptable care procedure.

Some slight shrinkage (approximately 2-4 percent) is to be expected on all household items, but on properly cleaned items that shrink excessively, the manufacturer should be held responsible.

Coffee Stains Can Be Sneaky Stains

Some sneaky stains can be a real head scratcher for us if we are working with incomplete information. You may not realize it, but some stains can be made up of compound elements beyond just the obvious presumed cause of the problem.

Coffee stains, for example, often contain milk or other additives, making the stain more difficult to remove since the coffee is a tannin stain and the milk leaves a protein- based stain. Both the coffee and the milk in the coffee are water-based stains, but protein stains require more work to get out. Such stains will have to be treated individually, even though the actual staining occurred at the same time. If you drop off an item with a coffee stain, please inform the customer service representative how you take your coffee (i.e., with cream and sugar, milk and sugar, black, etc.).

Happy New Year!