Miss the "oldness" after washing?

[ohairas]

Well girls, I just washed one of my favorite dresses for the first time. It was an old store stock dress. Has wonderful organdy trim edged in blue. Sigh.. the trim "was" off white. Now after washing it's Bright White! LOL! I know I should be thrilled.. but I can't help but miss how it used to look. Anyone else feel this way sometimes? It's almost as if it looks too new to be old, haha...
Here's the before,
Nikki

 

[Lady Day]

I wash ALL my vintage before I wear it, so I have that fabric softener smell to keep me happy.

LD

 

[jitterbugdoll]

I love to see things fresh and white/bright again. It can be very satisfying to discover the original color underneath the years of dust.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

It's like having two dresses

When I worked at the drycleaner I took the opportunity to have my mom's handmade 1956 wedding dress cleaned and restored at a huge discount. Now I had played dress-up in this dress, modelled in it, and was all-around just used to seeing it. When it came back from the excellent company in New Orleans and my boss and I opened the box I informed him it was not my mom's dress. "Ash, your mom's dress was originally off-white, not yellow!" lol Well, the wedding pictures were all black and white , I didn't know. Yick, then I realized how icky to have worn a yellowed dress. 13 years after that it was my wedding dress.

 

[Shimmy Sally]

I know what you mean. There is something charming about the weathered look. That's part of the appeal. I'm a wardrobe snob; I get irritated when friends throw vintage clothing in their home washer and dryer, no matter what the fabric. Old things are fragile. I've seen too many beautiful items ruined this way! What a waste. It comes from studying textiles I suppose, I see vintage as precious.
I usually have my vintage finds dry-cleaned before I wear them. I get a little squeamish wondering where and how items have been stored, who tried them on, etc. Some things (hats & purses) are fine just hanging out in the fresh air for a day after you've worn them.

 

[ohairas]

Begin, that is so awesome that you wore your mother's dress! Pics??

I don't know if we should use fabric softener on vintage??... since I've used that to remove wallpaper before, eek!!

Nikki

 

[Miss Sis]

If it smells a bit icky or looks grubby - it gets washed before wearing. Always.