Wedding Dress Mishap!
December 1 - 06
Last week I took "our" wedding dress in to be cleaned. I expressed my concerns about the process, would the cleaning process be gentle enough for a dress that's 28 years old? ie: it wouldn't dissolve or come apart would it? I was assured by the owner, Mr. Kim that it would be fine, the dress was in good order, not to worry ... it would be ready for pick up in about a week's time. I then received a call on Wednesday night advising the dress had been cleaned and had come up beautifully but there were several pieces of lace that had come off - could I come in and have a look? I said I would be in on Friday, December 1st (which I had previously booked off).
When we arrived at the shop, Mr. Kim, took me into the back where I saw the dress hanging on a rod, the lower quarter of it puddled in a blue bucket so as to keep it clean and protected from the floor. He handed 14 pieces of lace to me and asked me to show him where they were to be reattached. I told Mr. Kim that I would reattach the lace pieces myself as I had photos of the dress at home which I would study to determine placement.
It was immediately apparent lace was missing from the bodice and centre panel of the dress ... but upon closer inspection of my wedding photos, I also realized that pieces of lace were also missing from the sleeves, at each of the cuffs and tops of each the sleeve. Of the 14 pieces, 4 were small and 10 were large, thankfully, they were all the same design. It was much like fitting a jigsaw puzzle together.... I started with the 4 small pieces, pinning them into place; 3 of the larger pieces were slightly soiled - Mr. Kim explained they wouldn't come clean. I decided not to use the soiled pieces and did my best to come up with a design as close as I could to the original.
Surprisingly my wedding photos did not show off the dress in much detail. Any close ups were head and shoulder shots (which showed the bodice to a point) and long shots were so far away you could not see the lace detail. After pinning on the lace pieces I started to sew them on by hand.
I found hanging the dress from the top of the pantry cupboard in the kitchen provided the best light and after 3 hours, I had sewn on 4 of the 5 pieces in the centre panel. It is clear I have my work cut out for me! Thank goodness we didn't wait until closer to the big day to have the dress cleaned!
Aside from picking up the dress, Andy and I ran various errands on my day off from work, picking up clear cello bags and curling ribbon for the gift favors, grocery shopping, renewing my car registration, going to the bank, sending off Andy's company GST and corporate tax remittances. But it was not all work and no play ... after dinner, Andy, Lyden, Erin and I had a bowling game on Lyden's new Ninetendo gaming system, the "Wii". It was a tough fought battle but I came up the victor with the top score of 223! A new personal record!
Last week I took "our" wedding dress in to be cleaned. I expressed my concerns about the process, would the cleaning process be gentle enough for a dress that's 28 years old? ie: it wouldn't dissolve or come apart would it? I was assured by the owner, Mr. Kim that it would be fine, the dress was in good order, not to worry ... it would be ready for pick up in about a week's time. I then received a call on Wednesday night advising the dress had been cleaned and had come up beautifully but there were several pieces of lace that had come off - could I come in and have a look? I said I would be in on Friday, December 1st (which I had previously booked off).
When we arrived at the shop, Mr. Kim, took me into the back where I saw the dress hanging on a rod, the lower quarter of it puddled in a blue bucket so as to keep it clean and protected from the floor. He handed 14 pieces of lace to me and asked me to show him where they were to be reattached. I told Mr. Kim that I would reattach the lace pieces myself as I had photos of the dress at home which I would study to determine placement.
It was immediately apparent lace was missing from the bodice and centre panel of the dress ... but upon closer inspection of my wedding photos, I also realized that pieces of lace were also missing from the sleeves, at each of the cuffs and tops of each the sleeve. Of the 14 pieces, 4 were small and 10 were large, thankfully, they were all the same design. It was much like fitting a jigsaw puzzle together.... I started with the 4 small pieces, pinning them into place; 3 of the larger pieces were slightly soiled - Mr. Kim explained they wouldn't come clean. I decided not to use the soiled pieces and did my best to come up with a design as close as I could to the original.
Surprisingly my wedding photos did not show off the dress in much detail. Any close ups were head and shoulder shots (which showed the bodice to a point) and long shots were so far away you could not see the lace detail. After pinning on the lace pieces I started to sew them on by hand.
I found hanging the dress from the top of the pantry cupboard in the kitchen provided the best light and after 3 hours, I had sewn on 4 of the 5 pieces in the centre panel. It is clear I have my work cut out for me! Thank goodness we didn't wait until closer to the big day to have the dress cleaned!
Aside from picking up the dress, Andy and I ran various errands on my day off from work, picking up clear cello bags and curling ribbon for the gift favors, grocery shopping, renewing my car registration, going to the bank, sending off Andy's company GST and corporate tax remittances. But it was not all work and no play ... after dinner, Andy, Lyden, Erin and I had a bowling game on Lyden's new Ninetendo gaming system, the "Wii". It was a tough fought battle but I came up the victor with the top score of 223! A new personal record!
posted by Karen Price at
8:59 AM
1 Comments:
awwww, thanks for putting in so much time on our dress mom. You're the best! <3
By
Rachel, at 10:29 PM
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