Vera Wang

This wedding gown is a Vera Wang. As you can see, the body of the dress is stayed mostly clean during the wedding, but the hemline picked up a lot of dirt. Because of the delicate nature of silk extra caution was taken during the cleaning process. All of our gowns are pre-treated by hand and then individually cleaned in our unique two bath cleaning machine in distilled fluids. In the case of this particular dress, the hem is nearly 100% clean. After the cleaning process, we hand finish each gown and this gown is no exception.

Below are the pictures of how the gown turned out! Let me know what you think in the comments section.

For more information about Janet Davis Cleaners Wedding Gown cleaning and preservation visit our website or call 248.543.0340.

Traveling with Your Wedding Gown

Whether you are headed half way around the world or just to the next town, you want your gown to look fresh and unwrinkled for the ceremony. Here are some tips to help you and your gown travel safely!

Traveling by Car
Since most shops protect your gown with a garment bag and stuff it with a bust form plus lots of tissue to keep the gown from being crushed white it is in the bag, the most your gown should need is a quick fix. If you do not have a bag, stuff the bodice with as much tissue as possible and buffer the folds of the gown's skirt with more tissue. Use one large sheet (fitted sheet works best) to cover the front of the gown and another to cover the back and then pin the sheets together.
Hang the gown so the bodice is facing the car door, and the bust form and tissue will protect the bodice from wrinkling. Lay the rest of the gown across the back seat.

Traveling by Ship
Pretty much the same advice applies to water travel because you can carry you gown with you on board. And if you're getting married at sea, most cruise lines offer pressing services!

Traveling by Plane
There was a time when you could carry the gown with you and hang it in a storage cabin. Today most airlines insist you check your gown with your other luggage so unless your gown is very informal you will need a large box or an extra suitcase to protect it. Call your airline for details.

Packaging at the Bridal Salon
You could ask the bridal salon to pack the gown for you, but the salon may not have a box that is large enough. Gowns are often shipped to the salon in very small boxes, and press out the creases is one of the amenities offered by full-service shops.

Packing at a Gown Specialist
Or you could also ask a professional who specializes in gown cleaning and preservation to prepare your gown for shipping. Janet Davis Cleaners is experienced in packing gowns and has boxes with shipping cartons on hand.

Packing at Home
If you pack the gown yourself, use a large box about one-third the length of the front of your gown.
Line the box with tissue and lay the gown over it – face down. Make sure you have the gown centered in the box and that the part that is face down is spread flat so there are no creases or folds.
Beginning at the side seams, fold the skit length-wise over bunched tissue until the skirt is no wider than the box.
Then add more tissue and fold the top of the gown over into the box.
Add still more tissue and fold the top of the gown over into the box. The top of the gown will now be facing up. The top of the gown will now be facing up. Think of your gown as you doing the impossible: lying on your stomach with your legs folded over backwards while your head and shoulders are lying on top of your legs – facing up!
Now use still more tissue to stuff the bodice and cushion anything else such as bows or sleeves that should be protected. When you are finished, the dress should not move or “dance,” as the Spanish say, even if you shake the box. Save the dancing for the wedding day!

Quick Fixes for Pesky Wrinkles
Hang your gown on the bathroom door, turn the shower to hot, close the door, and let the shower run until the room is filled with steam, which relaxes most wrinkles.
Invest in a portable hand steamer you can use whenever you travel. Guard against spotting water-sensitive fabrics such as silk by wrapping the head of the steamer in a small towel.

Professional Pressing
Of course, the easiest solution to the wrinkle problem is to have your gown professionally pressed once you arrive at your destination.
If you need help finding someone, try visiting www.WeddingGownSpecialists.com/locator.htm for a recommendation.

After the Wedding
No need to worry about wrinkles after the wedding, but if you get married on the beach, do let your gown dry out before you pack to go home!

For more information on Janet Davis Cleaners wedding gown services, please visit http://www.janetdaviscleaners.com/ or call 248.543.0340.

Mothers Wedding Gown

This is a beautiful wedding gown from 1974. The gown was originally preserved (by another company) right after the wedding so there was only minimal yellowing present. Also, because it was preserved, there were no problem areas that developed over time as is the case with many gowns that are not properly cleaned before storage. Note that is is a cream gown with white lace (a look that is very popular today) and not a white gown.

When the new bride came in to view her mothers old gown, she was very excited and couldn't wait to wear it on her wedding day!

For more information on Janet Davis Cleaners or Wedding Dress Restoration and Vintage Garment Restoration, please visit our website.

What is green dry cleaning?

There is a lot of talk today about green alternatives and green marketing. What makes your dry cleaners green isn't the solvent they clean in as much as their approach towards the environment. Let's run down the major items in dry cleaning as far as the environment is concerned. Perc - the most common cleaning solvent, and also regarded as the best at cleaning your garments. Well maintained 4th and 5th generation perc dry cleaning machines recycle 95% of the solvent after each load with no air pollution. The two solvents currently thought to be most friendly to the environment are carbon dioxide and silicone dioxide, but the jury, the Environmental Protection Agency, has not yet ruled decisively. Your home washing machine discharges 100% of its water, dirt, and soap directly into the sewer. The waste from a dry cleaning machine is treated as hazardous waste and is disposed of properly, never entering the air or water supply. Maintenance is the key here as only properly maintained perc machines are able to operate efficiently. Organic - The term organic has no value in the dry cleaning world. Any chemical that has carbon in it is organic by definition. Almost all of the solvents currently used by cleaners can be classified as organic because they contain carbon in some form—although some contain more carbon than others. Irresponsible operations will label themselves as organic based on this definition alone.

Recycling - Many dry cleaners will take your hangers and plastic when you bring them back, but what do they do with them? We use hangers that are largely reusable. Those hangers we cannot reuse are recycled. All of the plastic you bring back to us is recycled. We have a comprehensive recycling program with SOCRRA where we have pickups for plastic bags, paper, cardboard, glass, plastic containers and metal.

Packaging – This is the area that is often seen as the most wasteful. Plastic bags around your clothes ensure that your clothes will travel to your house without getting wet or dirty and without putting wrinkles back in your clothes. At Janet Davis Cleaners, we have moved to the thinnest bags possible (to use the least amount of plastic per bag) and use paper bags whenever possible. Make sure to recycle all of the plastic bags that come on your clothes.

There are a number of other things your dry cleaner can do to be green. This includes using better light bulbs, a hanger (re-use and) recycling program, plastic recycling, paper and cardboard recycling, proper and timely maintenance, full pipe insulation, home pickup & delivery, etc. Yes, our home pickup and delivery service is environmentally friendly, let me explain. If our van stops at 200 homes, picks up from 50 customers and does this while driving 50 miles, this is much more efficient than 50 customers bringing their cleaning and driving 2 miles round trip each.

When looking for an environmentally sound dry cleaner don’t just look at the solvent they clean in, look at the big picture. At the end of the day, do they rely on one method to be green, or do they have a laundry list of practices and programs to reduce waste and increase efficiency.

For more information about Janet Davis Cleaners, please visit http://www.JanetDavisCleaners.com.

1950's Wedding Dress Restoration

It's hard to believe this is the same wedding gown. This particular wedding gown was purchased in 1953 at Hudsons and has been kept in an attic since the wedding.

This vintage garment restoration was particularly difficult because of the detioration of the material due to its storage. The armpits and seams were already treadbare and other areas were weak as well. This limited the range of cleaning possibilities, although we were still able to get the wedding gown much whiter and cleaner.

Visit http://www.janetdaviscleaners.com/ for more information on our vintage garment restoration.

Amelia Casablanca Dress

This is an Amelia Casablanca wedding gown that we cleaned. These pictures of the dress were taken just before it went home to its owner (in fact you can see the garment bag ready to be zipped around the dress). She was thrilled when she picked it up. Unfortunatly I don't have any clear before shots available.



This dress required a lot of individual attention. All of the visible details had to be covered or removed, and then replaced and uncovered after cleaning. Also, the hoops inside had to be carefully removed and replaced.

Best Dry Cleaners in Metro Detroit, Again!

Yesterday I found something pretty cool while I checking on a couple of things. Janet Davis Cleaners was voted 2008 Best Dry Cleaners in Detroit in the Metro Times' The Glory of Capitalism - People's Poll. The funny part is that nobody from the magazine called to let us know, we had to find out on our own. The same thing happened last year when we were voted Best Dry Cleaners in Detroit by citysearch.com.

Thank you to everybody who voted for us and more importantly thank you to everybody who visits our stores in Berkley and Bloomfield or is on our home pickup & delivery service.

For more information on Janet Davis Cleaners and the services we offer, please visit our website!