Wedding Gown Preservation —Don’t Wait for a Formal Invitation. Once the excitement of the wedding day has passed, there’s typically a period of much needed inactivity. Well, we don’t mean to nag, but one thing that should not be put off for long is professional cleaning and packaging of your wedding gown — preserving the memories it will long represent. That’s because the passage of time can allow even unseen stains to set-in permanently. What stains, you say? After all, it was a wedding not a pig roast! Yes, but remember when the champagne started flowing and bubbling over…remember cutting the wedding cake and what a scene that turned into? Well, any alcohol or soda that may have found its way into the gown’s fabric, as well as cake frosting and frosting dyes, are sources of a common wedding gown problem — caramelized sugar stains. The caramelized sugar stain may sound exotic, almost appetizing, but it can ruin a wedding gown. Having your wedding gown — and bridesmaids dresses too — cleaned promptly after the big day will provide the greatest success of preserving them for the future — stain free.

Gentle Care for Sweaters Sweaters can be demanding. They stretch, they shrink, they produce funny little balls of yarn that won’t brush off. Friction charges them up, then they tire out just when you need them to look their best. These sweater care tips will help you get the most out of your sweater. After all, great looking sweaters are our specialty. • Store sweaters folded. Sweaters on hangers will tend to stretch. • In order to allow natural fibers to breathe, if stored in a bag, make sure to only store in breathable bags such as the sweaters come in from Cathy’s Cleaners. • Have your sweaters professionally cleaned before storing. • As an extra measure, cedar blocks, not moth balls, are recommended for protection against insect damage. • Avoid wearing jewelry that can snag and pull threads loose. Remove jewelry before removing your sweater. • Wearing the same sweater every day will cause it to lose its shape. Sweater fabrics and cleaning needs differ. Trust us, your Sanitone® Certified Master Drycleaner for the precise care your sweaters need.

For You to Look Your Best, So Must Your Suit. Not All Soil is Visible: Under normal conditions, we recommend cleaning a suit after every 4th wearing. “But it’s not even dirty,” you say. The reality is that suits (all garments) collect soil, dirt and perspiration constantly, even in clean environments like an office. So even though the “dirt” may not be visible to you the effect is has on your suit’s appearance is significant. Remove the Suit Coat: Sitting for long periods of time in one’s suit coat is generally not advised. The back of the coat tends to get wrinkled and worn. Best to remove the coat where acceptable. Hang With Care: It is important to store suits properly by hanging them, together, on a good wooden hanger. This helps maintain the coat’s shape and creases in the pants. It is also best to wait a day or more before wearing a suit again. Giving the fabric time to rest between wearing contributes to longer suit life. These tips can make a difference you, and others, will notice. If you have any other questions about suit care, be sure to ask us. We are always happy to help.

Store Winter Garments Safely Away. Spring means the return of long awaited warmer weather, leaves on the trees, and 4-hour little league baseball games. Of course spring is also when the human species sheds its cumbersome outer shell — overcoats, sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets and the like. But don’t make the mistake so many people do — just sticking your winter coats in a closet all spring, summer and fall, or jamming your sweaters into a drawer. You will pay the price for this behavior, common as it is, in the form of visible, often irreparable, insect damage — that is, holes in your clothes. So the first thing you need to do is have your winter wear cleaned. Why? Because soil, food stains, perspiration and moisture that remain in your garments attract moths, silverfish and other insects — like a good restaurant attracts people. Insects are looking for a place to eat and relax. Cleaning your winter garments before putting them away removes the attraction, minimizing the risk of infestation. Once garments are clean, proceed with proper storage. This means three things: 1) never sealing them up in plastic — this only promotes condensation and heat which is attractive to insects, 2) covering them properly, and 3) placing them in the right environment. If space is a problem at your house, check with us about storage services. If storing them at home, here’s what to do. First, hang coats on a good wooden hanger, covering them with a breathable cloth sheet or paper “cape.” Be sure to hang them in a closet with adequate ventilation (never in hot, humid attic spaces or damp basement areas). Cleaned sweaters are ideally wrapped in acid-free tissue and placed in a drawer. Added protection against insects can be gained by using cedar blocks inside drawers or on closet shelves. Properly cleaned and stored, your winter garments will be fresh and “hole-free” next Fall when you need them.

Leave Tough Picnic Stain to The Experts Name one thing you are apt to find at a picnic besides hot dogs, sodas, potato chips and ants. How about stains? The kids playing softball are going to end up with some nasty grass stains on the knees of their blue jeans — they just are! Perhaps even a blood stain or two if the competition is fierce. And then there’s the stain hazards around the picnic table. Little Steven squirted too much mustard on his hot dog. So now he’s wearing a yellow mustard splotch shaped like the state of Florida on his new white t-shirt. At the office picnic, Mr. Howard, head of purchasing, is so excited about all the free food choices, he’s managed to accumulate a multi-food-group stain down the front of his shirt that will require a PhD in chemistry to remove. Such is the story of summer events and the stains that accompany them. The best advice we have is to simply avoid mishaps that leave stains. If you get one, blot as much of the stain from the garment as possible using a clean, white napkin or paper towel. Do not rub. Other than that, leave it alone, and remember to act quickly by taking the garment to us, where we’ll know the best techniques for removing stains of all types — even the big purple one Freddy got when the 2-liter bottle of grape soda he was spinning around decided to erupt. Happy picnicking!

Crisp Shirt Ideas Ever try to iron a cotton shirt you laundered at home? Iron, iron, iron, iron…still wrinkled. Professional shirt laundering and finishing provide the ideal solution and results. Here are some tips to help you keep your shirts fresh and attractive for a long, long time. Stains are a shirt’s worst enemy. Be wary when eating. Let us treat your stains promptly. Untreated stains can harm cotton fibers and reduce shirt life. Point out missing buttons so we can replace them. Have shirts laundered and finished after each wear to remove damaging soils and keep them looking fresh and new. Avoid unnecessary wear on the elbows – where shirts often wear out first. Avoid harsh cleaning detergents and processes. Trust us, your Sanitone® Certified Master Drycleaner, for gentle care.

When We Pick Up, You Pick Up More Time. For no additional cost whatsoever, we will pick up the clothes you leave out for us, and deliver them back to your door, fresh, clean, finished and bagged. It’s like having our customer counter on your doorstep. Our Pick-Up and Delivery service saves you time, gas, dollars and the stress of packing one more errand into your day. It organizes your drycleaning needs into an efficient routine, so you won’t put it off until the last minute. We schedule a pick-up and drop-off for the same day each week. Never again will you have to shuffle out to your car with an armload of clothes with kids in tow. Never again will you pick up your clean clothes, put them in your trunk and forget about them for days. And with our free Pick-Up & Delivery service, you will pay less for your drycleaning simply because of the travel time and expenses you save throughout the year. If the pace of life tells you something’s got to give — give up those trips to the drycleaner. Stop the run around. Go with our Free Pick-Up and Delivery service.

Why Sweat About Perspiration? One bit of advice regarding the successful care of garments is this — never underestimate the negative effects of perspiration on clothing. Of course perspiration has never been seen as a positive thing (especially on a first date), which is why so many products exist to postpone or cover-up the problem. Many of these products, antiperspirants especially, will themselves stain clothing. But perspiration can be much more than just unsightly. It can be downright harmful to your clothing. Perspiration will not only discolor clothing, left alone over time, it can actually degrade the fabric’s fibers — even more so in garments made of silk, such as silk blouses, dresses and sweaters. But let’s face it. You’re going to sweat. It’s going to be absorbed into your clothing — a little at a time or a lot all at once. It happens. All one can do is be aware of its presence in clothing and be sure to have garments cleaned promptly and properly. So relax — before you start perspiring!

Give Fine Linens Immediate Attention for Stains Clean, crisp table linens bring an elegant touch to any occasion. Unfortunately, keeping them clean isn’t always possible. The threats are many — gravy, sauces, wine, coffee, chocolate, blueberry pie filling, tinted icings, and more, many requiring their own stain removal approach. The knowledge and experience we provide is invaluable, and immediate action — not waiting to send your linens out for cleaning — is highly recommended. Stains will “set” within a week and sometimes sooner, after which complete removal becomes very difficult. Proper “blotting” of a fresh stain can sometimes be effective. Use either a clean white towel or white (no printed design) paper towels. Blot using one towel under the stain and one above. Do this until nothing more is transferred to the towels. Do not rub, as this can easily damaged the surface of fine linen. Oil- or fat-based stains such as gravy, butter, salad dressings and sauces should then be left alone. Water-based stains from drinks such as wine, beer and fruit juice and food such as cranberry sauce can then be diluted with water and blotted again to remove as much of the stain as possible. While these measures can’t guarantee complete success in removing a stain, they can help to lessen its long-term effect on your linens. In all cases, it is important to have stained linens professionally cleaned as soon as possible and, for best results, within a week. Then you’ll be sure to have a fresh set of linens, clean and folded, waiting for your next occasion.

Caring for your clothes. Caring for the environment. As a Sanitone® Certified Master Drycleaner, we utilize the industry’s premier cleaning process to ensure your clothes look their best and are cleaned in an environmentally friendly manner. Think of our Sanitone cleaning process as a fine salon shampoo for your clothes. We return your garments in “fresh-as-new” condition, cleaned, shaped and pressed, while using environmentally friendly materials, equipment, processes and disposal methods: • We use detergents and sizing based on natural, renewable raw materials • We permit independent inspections of our cleaning process and procedures to maintain cleaning quality • We maintain our equipment to reduce air emissions • We dispose of process by-products via licensed haulers who purify and recycle the materials • We recycling hangers and plastic materials Look your best in freshly cleaned clothes — feel good about the way we’re cleaning them!