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linnea56chgo5b

Request advice on whitening a yellowed bridal veil.

Not exactly "antique," but you folks might well know....

My cousin's daughter is getting married in June. She wants to wear her aunt's veil, but it has turned yellow over time. It dates to circa 1969. All I know about fiber content is "lace and tulle", not what the actual material is. Whatever was prevalent at the time, I guess. I recall it being rather elaborate.

The bridal shop recommended Oxy Clean, but I thought I'd get the advice of experts first. I have read (Somewhere!) that sunlight and lemon juice can whiten yellowed fabric, too.

Thanks for your help.

Comments (6)

  • lindac
    11 years ago

    If it has yellowed.....I am guessing that it's silk. A silk veil would have been considerably more expensive that "nylon tulle". Would the dress and the bride's circumstances have been such that it would have been silk?
    s the lace real hand made lace? Or machine made?
    If it's nylon a good soak in a product containing an optical dye like perhaps whisk...but likely there are gentler ones out there....
    If it's silk....wow...
    Any way you can find a few threads to do the burn test on?

    My daughter wore my dress which was silk and had yellowed a bit, so she got an ivory veil and no one was wiser....my veil was silk and had gone to pieces.
    Any chance she would choose an ivory dress?
    Linda c

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for your reply, Linda. My cousin lives in Ohio, but I'm guessing she has the veil now since her daughter had it to try on with the dress (her sister, the owner, lives much further away in Rhode Island). The dress is already purchased. The bride did marry money, and even as a 12 year kid I noticed the veil was beautiful. So it would not surprise me if it was silk. I'll ask her to inquire further, and see if a few threads can be harmlessly extracted. She's not someone who sews, or knows anything about fabric, so I have to be careful what I ask for.

  • lindac
    11 years ago

    Just make sure she doesn't allow some well meaning dry cleaner to ruin it.....

  • atheling
    11 years ago

    In Cranford (PBS), the ladies bleached their lace by soaking it in buttermilk. Just don't let the cat get to it!

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Oh, I saw that episode! Very funny! I wonder if it works (the whitening, not the cat emetic).

    Linda or anyone: refresh my memory: what does the burn test show? I will need to explain this to my cousin. Nylon melts, right? If it is silk, what does that do?

  • lindac
    11 years ago

    Nylon melts and silk chars and smells like burning "amimal matter"....in other words...it stinks!