I Love It But. There's always a but.

April 15, 2012 5:26 PM

Clothesfilter: I found the most amazing, perfect fitting, super-chic dress. The problem, one glaring hanger bump. Can this be saved?

Such a fabulous use of a question. The material is a mid-density viscose, good quality. The offending bump is a few inches below the shoulder and is very noticable on a form fitting dress. Is there anything to do to salvage this? I bought the dress with hopes that something can be done, but was told I can return it.

posted by space_cookie to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (4 answers total)

Can you gently steam the dress---or just the area? That will sometimes allows stretches to relax.
posted by bonehead at 5:29 PM on April 15, 2012

I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard good things about this method.
posted by lilac girl at 5:34 PM on April 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

Is the dress labeled as viscose (I guess so) - does it have any other names on the label for the fabric, such as "rayon" or "modal"? Modal can be ironed, but should be washed cold. I have a few modal items and #1 - I love them but they pill. #2, washing usually fixes whatever ails them (like being stretched out). Steaming might help it, but if the full weight of the dress has been pulling on a hanger, it might not work very well. Washing, in my experience, would work.

I use those "Huggable" flocked hangers these days - the grippiness helps hold the weight of the fabric and things don't stretch at the shoulders too much. Otherwise you can store it folded or you can put it over a pants hanger, folded.
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:39 PM on April 15, 2012

A good dry cleaner can probably help you with this, if you're nervous about trying it yourself.
posted by elizeh at 6:47 PM on April 15, 2012