Wedding dress story by Tina J
“This wedding dress was hand made by my grandmother, Azelle Presswood and my great aunt, Mary Moxley. It was later worn by my mother, Ann Tedford, when she married my father, Thomas L. Tedford, on June 3, 1951 in Texarkana, TX. I wore the dress also when I married my first husband in 1983.
It is unknown how the damage occurred or what the stains actually were. It was stored in a plastic garment bag along with other garments and had fallen off the hanger when I found it while I was going through the closets at my parents’ house about seven years ago.
I was devastated when I saw it, so I brought it home with me and vowed that when I had the money, I would get it restored to honor the memory of my grandmother and my great Aunt Mary, both of whom I loved dearly.
My mom passed away two years ago and I can picture the look she would have on her face if she could see it restored so it is beautiful again.”
Restoration by Heritage Garment Preservation
Posted by Jennifer Judd
When this wedding dress arrived to us here at Heritage Garment Preservation, it was in very bad shape. You can see from the “before” pictures that it was very yellow with rusty colored stains all over the dress, (especially the sleeves) that appeared to be mold spores.
We have had mixed results removing mold, so we suggested that we would test it for a small fee and if the dress responded to the treatment we would continue with the restoration. If not, we would return her dress to her without finishing it. Tina agreed and so we proceeded with testing.
Fortunately this dress was a synthetic (acetate) satin, which allowed us to be fairly aggressive with in in the whitening process and the dress responded beautifully and we were able to continue on and restore it completely. We were thrilled with the results.
You can see by the “after” picture what a beautiful dress it has become again. We hope Tina’s mom is smiling down on it now.