Author Archives: Utopia Cleaners

The Twelve Holiday Parties: Holiday Spills and Splashes (Part III)

treating milk stains on velvet After the seventh holiday party, my cousin said to me, “My suede outfit got soaked in the rain.” How do I handle soaked suede?

Answer: Hang it out to dry. Do not use a blow dryer or heater. When dry, brush with a stiff brush.

After the eighth holiday party, my daughter said to me, “Do I hang up my knit sweater and skirt outfit or should I fold it?” For once she wants my advice!

Answer: Keep knits in good shape by storing and cleaning them properly. Keep sweaters folded loosely with lots of room to breathe. If you must hang it up, fold it over a crossbar. Never hang like a shirt on a wire hanger – this will stretch it.

After the ninth holiday party, my sister said to me, “I’m sorry my baby drooled on your red velvet dress.” How do I remove milk stains, not to mention the baby?

Answer: Blot it gently and bring it to us. Crushed areas of wear can be improved by lightly brushing with a soft brush. As for the baby, don’t pick him up when you have on a velvet dress!

More parties:

The Twelve Holiday Parties: Holiday Spills and Splashes (Part I)

The Twelve Holiday Parties: Holiday Spills and Splashes (Part II)

The Twelve Holiday Parties: Holiday Spills and Splashes (Part IV)

The Story of Frugal Francine

Frugal Francine was always looking for ways to save money. She invested in her wardrobe, knowing the value of good design and good designers, but when it came to taking care of her fashionable frocks, Francine figured she would do it on her own.

But that strategy turned tragic and expensive for Francine. Here’s what happened and how you can avoid her mistakes:

The care label on her new silk blouse said dryclean only, but Francine had heard that silks are washable, so she carefully soaked it in the basin with a gentle hand-washing soap. It was ruined.

Read the care label carefully on all garments. Unless the label on a silk garment specifically says that it is washable, don’t douse it at home. If dye bleeds on the shirt because you failed to follow the care label instructions, you’ll get soaked – not the manufacturer.

Francine planned ahead for the big meeting with her new boss. Her rayon suit was wrinkled so she hung it up in the bathroom the night before and sprayed it with a plant mister. Then she figured she’d just let the steam do the rest when she showered the next morning. It looked horrible.

Many rayon garments contain dyes and sizing that are sensitive to water and heavy steam. If these items get wet they can be permanently stained or lose their shape. Spritzing these clothes with water can leave permanent stains. Your drycleaner may be able to repair the damage – but there’s no guarantee.

Francine was at her best friend’s house for dinner when she dripped some salad oil on her dress. Quickly she went into the bathroom and rubbed the area with cleaning solvent her friend had on hand. The damage was done!

Never rub a stain. Instead, blot the area carefully – and make sure you test the fabric before using any type of stain removal substance.

Friday afternoon Francine was hurrying to go out and she spilled nail polish on her new linen-blend pants. She knew that stains should be attacked right away so she immediately applied nail polish remover with acetone to the spot. It removed the spot – and a piece of the garment as well.

Acetone, an ingredient in some brands of nail polish, dissolves acetate. Before trying to remove a stain in this manner, test for fiber content. Or use amyl acetate (banana oil) or fingernail polish remover that does not contain acetone and is safe for all fabrics.

It was hot and muggy on the walk home and Francine checked her blouse for perspiration stains. Seeing none, she threw the garment into the hamper for next week’s wash. Francine was horrified to discover a few days later that permanent brown stains had come to light under each arm.

Perspiration, like many other stains, doesn’t appear right away. All you have to notice at first is a damp area that dries, leaving an invisible stain that will darken with time.

Please let us help. We’ll take the best care of your clothes-everytime!

Tracking your order: How we keep it straight

Week after week you drop your clothes off to be cleaned. After we process your order, how can we tell your navy blue wool pants from the many other navy blue wool pants we receive?
That’s easy. Before a garment goes through our drycleaning operation we give it a tag, so we can identify its owner. We do this by attaching a tag to each garment. The tags are specially manufactured so the ink and dye will not wash out during cleaning.

Because not all fabrics can be processed the same way, tagging garments allows us to separate the items from a customer’s order and process them together with pieces from orders belonging to different customers. Thus, it is important that each order has a distinctive identification tag so we know which pieces belong together.

Once the clothes have been separated into similar groups, we weigh enough similar garments to make up a load and put them into the cleaning machine. At the end of the cleaning cycle, the clothes are taken to the finishing department to be pressed.

Employees in the finishing department restore your clothing to its original appearance on pressing machines designed to handle the great variety of fabric types and garment designs.

After pressing, the clothing goes to an assembly area. Our employees collect all the items in your order and put it together in one package in this area. When the pressed items come into the assembly area, employees reunite your garments. When the number of items assembled equals the number of items on the invoice, the order is complete.

Then comes packaging. We take the completed order, cover it, and attach the invoice to the order. The completed order is then filed onto a conveyor or racking system to await pickup.

Using this system, we combine clothing from different customers and put them back in order without losing any of your clothes!

The Incredible Shrinking Comforter

The other day, a customer asked “I washed a comforter that shrank. What happened?”

Well, some natural relaxation shrinkage can show up after cleaning household
items such as comforters, bedspreads, and blankets. There is usually a
fullness of the backing or shell fabric, causing a puckered appearance.
Also, any piping borders, quilting stitches, and seams may be rippled or
distorted.

Although many factors can contribute to this type of
shrinkage, the major cause is the original fabric not being properly
preshrunk or stabilized before the article was constructed. When this
occurs, the latent strains of relaxation will appear during any
acceptable care procedure.

Some slight shrinkage (approximately 2-4
percent) is to be expected on all household items, but on properly
cleaned items that shrink excessively, the manufacturer should be held
responsible.

Coffee Stains Can Be Sneaky Stains

table setting with coffee in cup and saucer Some sneaky stains can be a real head scratcher for us if we are working
with incomplete information. You may not realize it, but some stains
can be made up of compound elements beyond just the obvious presumed
cause of the problem.

Coffee stains, for example, often contain milk
or other additives, making the stain more difficult to remove since the
coffee is a tannin stain and the milk leaves a protein- based stain.
Both the coffee and the milk in the coffee are water-based stains, but
protein stains require more work to get out. Such stains will have to be
treated individually, even though the actual staining occurred at the
same time. If you drop off an item with a coffee stain, please inform
our customer service representative how you take your coffee (i.e., with
cream and sugar, milk and sugar, black, etc.).

Author Archives: Utopia Cleaners

The Twelve Holiday Parties: Holiday Spills and Splashes (Part III)

The Story of Frugal Francine

Tracking your order: How we keep it straight

The Incredible Shrinking Comforter

Coffee Stains Can Be Sneaky Stains

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