Thursday 16 October 2008

stop staring

yesterday i had, for the first time, my brand new stop staring! - dress. 50s retro, and very lovely! i got it quite cheap on ebay, but had to spend some money on a tailor as it just wouldn't fit around the shoulders. it is still not perfect perfect, but i can wear it and am very happy with it.

























dress: stop staring!
tights: c&a
cardigan: kenvelo
shoes: vintage (but a bit too large, so i'll sell them. anyone interested? they are a 39)

now, i do have a question: the dress is 100% cotton, but it says dry clean only. how large are the chances of distroying the dress if i
a) wash it in the most gentle program of my washing machine
b) hand wash it?
the thing is that i just can't afford to have it dry cleaned once a month. any other suggestions?

12 comments:

Lillgull said...

This is only my personal advice and I would as you, be very bothered and irritated on this confusing washing instructions. A 100 % cotton dress? Ofcourse u must be able to wash this garment as a regular cottondress, the only risk u will be taking is that as usual with cotton the fabric might shrink a little? As the careful vintage dressuser (which I am) I would hang it out in the fresh air on my balkony or in my bathroom to naturaly ventilate the fabric after every use . This is also very enviromentaly friendly... If it doesen't have any unusual applications on it (sequins or heavy embroidery or unusual lace in a different colour than the dressfabric) I would handwash it insideout and be careful not to wring the fabric. I would also be very attentive when I handwash it if I see that the garment lets loose a lot of colour in the water.
Dry cleaning on cotton? Hhmrpff...why? I hate dry cleaning...

fröken lila said...

@ lillgull: thank you so much! i guess i'll handwash it cold, to minimize the shrinking risk. i always ventilate my clothes, apart from normal cotton-bloses and t-shirts, i don't see why i should wash jeans or skirts or dresses or cardigans so very often. it's a lot more environmental friendly that way..

Anonymous said...

Ich habe auch Kleider aus 100% Baumwolle und bisher hatte ich keine Probleme, diese in der Waschmachine im schonendsten Programm zu waschen :).

Hübsches Kleid ^^

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Anonymous said...

wonderful dress!!!

fröken lila said...

@ nadine: danke für den aufmunternden kommentar - ich denke, ich werde es das erste mal per hand waschen, da ich vermute dass es ganz ordenltich ausfärben wird, und danach im schonwaschgang.

@ fashion: thank you so much for adding me - i am glad that you like my blog! i will check out yours as soon as i find some time over and then decide if i will link you.

@ emma: thank you so much for your compliment! i do love that dress...

Miss Rascal said...

Very cute.

I love the look of Stop Staring dresses but I hate the materials they are using.
I have several dresses from them but I rather try and make something myself, or find some old lady that alter/make stuff as a hobby, instead of spending a ton of money on dresses that's not worth it in the end.

fröken lila said...

@ little rascal: i know, they only have very few dresses that are cotton, most are some polyester-blend. i try to avoid polyester as much as possible, but as this one was 100% cotton i thought i might at least give it a try, especially as it was less than 50% of the original price =)
the problem with this dress was though that the upper part (that is the part above the waist) was far too large for little me, as that part of my body is quite short (i have a rather high waistline for being only 1.60m), so i had to give it to a tailor, as this is something i cannot fix myself..

Kati said...

Lieber Handwäsche...sicher ist sicher!

Lillgull said...

This resolves a problem that's been bugging me for 2 years now!! I have been drewling over stop staring dresses, but not been able to decide which one to buy. It seems that Stop staring is not the vintage repro-brand for me. I like simple and practical washing instructions.

fröken lila said...

@ cathy: ja, ich werde zunächst mti der hand waschen und sehen wie es läuft..

@ lillgull: i don't think i'll buy another of their dresses, as i had a lot of work with this one. both the bust and the waist were the correct size, but their placement just didn't work for me. sadly enough, the tailor didn't really see where the problems were with me and the dress, so she couldn't make it fit 100%. i guess i'll need to change the tailor as well, but as stop staring mostly has polyester-fabrics, i don't think i'll buy another one of their dresses. BUT i will buy a trashy diva one sooner or later. and a vivien of holloway. i will. when i got the money.

iselillja said...

Oh, I love the dress! Stop Staring is wonderful :) I have a sailor dress from Stop Staring myself, havn't gotten around to the "how to wash it" part yet though.. But I'm thinking handwash cold, should work with 100% cotton!

I like your blog :)