Princess dresses: dealing with the stench

[alvernon90]

NOTE: I apologize if this post is not appropriate on this board, and accede to a moderator move.

I just know somebody out there will have some good ideas for this, because I'm certain that I'm not the only person who bought her daughter a princess dress at Disneyland and then watched as said daughter wore it practically every day for weeks and weeks.

Now the thing is just too ripe to stand any more, but DD is freaking out at the thought of washing it in the sink, fearing that even more of the glitter will come off. What is the best way to clean this thing without facing the two consequences of ruining it: wasted money and hearing "I told you so" from a 4-year-old?

 

[Stacerita]

Sorry, but my DD was never into the Princess thing. But couldn't you wash it in the sink and if glitter comes off, just add more? You can always spray some on with some sort of costume glitter hair spray I would think.

 

[alvernon90]

Sorry, but my DD was never into the Princess thing. But couldn't you wash it in the sink and if glitter comes off, just add more? You can always spray some on with some sort of costume glitter hair spray I would think.

Consider yourself lucky that your daughter didn't get into the princess thing. I tried to fight it, but so many other people kept giving her princess gifts that I couldn't keep it out of the house.

Anyway, the real problem is that the glitter on the dress forms a specific pattern, you can't just sprinkle it on. Once it wears off, it's gone forever. No problem if you wear it once on Halloween, but it's an issue when you wear it every day...

 

[Eeee-va]

Have you tried Febreze? That will work in a pinch, though I don't think it actually kills bacteria/etc. It doesn't work for long against sweaty boy hockey player odors, but it might work better on sweaty little girl smells.

I've never tried it, but some professional and amateur costumers swear by spraying costumes with vodka--the alcohol smell goes away and so does the sweat/etc. smell. You could try it on some non-princess-dress fabric first to make sure the smell comes out but I do believe it does.

Or you could maybe try washing just the underarm area very carefully? I'm assuming that's the area that really needs cleaned, and if you were careful, the front might not get wet, so the glitter shouldn't come off.

Worst case, couldn't you use fabric glue and glitter to reapply glitter in the old design (or a new one)?

Good luck!

 

[kari12177]

You can also try rubbing fabric softners on it for the smell too.

 

[94bruin]

Consider yourself lucky that your daughter didn't get into the princess thing. I tried to fight it, but so many other people kept giving her princess gifts that I couldn't keep it out of the house.

I don't have an answer for your question, but I just have to say that my DD4 is also completely into the princess thing despite my initial avoidance. It was those darn princess gifts from friends that first got her hooked. Then it was Santa Claus who brought her a Cinderella dress... do have admit it's cute, even if it's a bit tattered around the edges from being worn almost daily for the past 7 months. (Don't know why, but DD's dress doesn't smell, but she really only wears the dress around the house.)

 

[tripletlyblessed]

I soak them in the tub with a bit of detergent and then soak in clean water. Gentle swishing. I haven't noticed the glitter coming off and my girls aren't complaining. Good luck!

 

[luvmysoxfan]

my husband scooped them up and washed them in the machine before i could stop him, and much to my surprise, they were just fine. the only thing that seemed to happen was they got 'softer' and dd liked the way they felt better! not so itchy & crunchy feeling!

 

[pixiewings71]

I've been washing the girls dress up dresses forever. It hasn't hurt them yet. Yes, we've lost a little glitter here and there but if it needs it we just use a glue stick and some new glitter and all is fine.

 

[alvernon90]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[AuntieTink]

I might be a little out of my element here... but I had dance costumes as a kid and couldn't wash them and that was like 100 years ago...haha...and I don't have DD's. I only have Disney Nephews so the princess dresses are way out of my element so my suggestions might not work....

You could try turning them inside out and washing them in a gentle cycle...I bought the pink princess sweatshirt with the silver Cinderella carriage on the back, the fabric on that has tiny silver sparkles running through it and it did fine going through the washer...

Have you called any dry cleaners to see how much they would charge? That way all the glitter might stay intact as well

And if worse come to worse and the glitter does come off, they make a spray adhesive that they sell in fabric stores, I believe Wal-Mart does as well...but it's a spray glue in a can, like a hairspray and then you could reapply the glitter...and then she could even pick the color glitter she wants.

Anyway, like I said, don't have DD's yet, only Disney nephews so I don't know if any of those ideas will work or not.

Good Luck!

 

[Teki]

We had my sisters Tinkerbell gown dress thing dry cleaned because we were afraid of the glitter coming off. The lady at the dry cleaner seemed to have faced this problem before because she offered us a lot of reassurance with our concerns and we got the dress back in pristine none sweaty smelling condition glitter in tact. I am not sure if that's common or if it was just that particularly nice lady. It wouldn't hurt to at least ask though.

 

[Potterswife]

I've washed them in the washer...w/o anything else in there with it on the gentle cycle. I have an HD washer so there's no middle swisher thingy, the dresses come out great with no apparent missing glitter and they did seem a bit softer. I hang them up to dry. Just do it when your daughter isn't watching and make sure she doesn't see it when it comes out of the washer, I was horrified at first that I had ruined it, but when it was dry it was just like new.

 

[disneynerd420]

Not having a daughter, I never realized that this is obviously a common issue. Wow... I learned something new today.


I have learned that if I ever have a daughter, she better be a little tom boy. I would rather have a little pirate than a little princess.

 

[disneynerd420]

Also... are there no tags inside these dresses that provide the preferred wash method?

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

I wash dds inside out on the gentle cycle and then hang dry. So far so good for us.

 

[rangermom]

We have been machine washing and hang drying DD's WDW Belle dress for over 2 years now. No problem at all.

 

[LittleImagineer]

Well, when I was little I'm pretty sure that my mom just always washed our costumes and let them air dry. They always came out perfectly fine and never lost too much glitter. :]

 

[tink929]

I have learned that if I ever have a daughter, she better be a little tom boy. I would rather have a little pirate than a little princess.

We have a bit of a pirate princess on our hands here. She wants to wear her beautiful gowns to ride her bike and play in the dirt and climb trees.

We've had to wash them quite a few times. I do the swish in the bathtub method, but hearing that they stand up to the washer I might try that next time!!

 

[treehugnmama]

my dd wore hers through the fountins at epcot....it worked out great lol She had been tink all week and it got a good cleaning. I thought if it made it through that it can make it through anything.....gentle cycle on washing machine and hang to dry...no problems