transporting an evening gown
 

Hi everyone,
I'll be attending a wedding at the end of my 17-day trip to Poland this coming August.
I'm planning on bringing a nice formal evening gown to wear to the wedding.
My itinerary is packed with sightseeing stops and I will be hopping from town to town a lot during the two weeks preceding the wedding. This will include bus and train travel.
I need to make sure my gown looks presentable... In your opinion, what would be the best way to transport an evening gown, first on the plane and then on trains and buses? I’m sure I will have an access to an iron but I will be staying in mid-range hotels/pensions so there will be no steaming service available.
Any tips based on your similar past experiences would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.

Hi Caroline, although your hotel may not offer any steaming pressing service I would think that there would be a commercial cleaners that could do this for you. I assume you will be in the city where the bride is, can she suggest to you where you could take your dress to have it pressed? Sounds like a wonderful trip.

Depending on the style of your gown, it might work to carry it (carefully folded) in one of those packing envelopes left undisturbed at the bottom of your suitcase. When you get to the wedding destination, take it out and hang for 24 hours. Some time in a steamy shower room helps, if the fabric is OK with that.

I would think that it would be a big pain to carry around an evening gown while traveling around.

My suggestion would be to put it in an extra-long dress bag that can be hung up in the plane (call the airline in advance to make sure they will do this for you) and, when you arrive in Poland, ask the bride to suggest a reliable shipping service. Fold the gown, still in its bag, into a large box and ship it to someone who lives in the town where the wedding will be and who can hang the gown up for you.

My sister got married in Hawaii and sent her dress Fed Ex so it would not get damaged/rumpled on the plane. Not sure if this is an option for you due to price but you could look into it.

Your itinerary is busy and you'll be on all modes of transport. My first thought was to mail it to yourself (or your friend) if possible.

If you can't mail it, you could pack it separately in a small carry-on. Use a lot of tissue in between folds and if there are sleeves, roll tissue and put it in sleeves and don't take it out till you get to your destination.

I would ship it ahead. Then have it professional pressed if need be after arrival.

Agree it's best not to drag the dress around with you. Too many opportunities for damage/staining if it's checked - and way too squished as a carry-on. Ship it ahead to the hotel and have them organize a good professional presser/cleaner for you there.

Thank you all for all these great tips.
I will definately look into shipping costs with FedEx, DHL and UPS.
You guys are great!

I carried my formal gown on when going to Italy and used a professional dry cleaner to press it after arrival. My husband did the same with his suit.

Just another option. :)

Hi Caroline - I am a professional dressmaker with a couple of "international" clients, and most weeks run around my town on public transport with expensive clothes. I would follow very little of the advice you've been given so far.

If you have loads of money go ahead and ship FedEx; for a fraction of the price I use Global Priority Mail, even to places like Estonia. Put it in the box they will give you, first laying flat between dry cleaning bags and fold, fold, fold. Their box should do nicely unless you have a big puffy dress. There's forms you have to fill out, with customs declaration. I personally probably wouldn't bother mailing it, but would do the same protective folding and put it in a bag in the case; no tissue; no separate carryon.

Either way, when you unwrap it, don't hang it in a steamy bathroom; don't let an unknown average hotel take it to an unknown commercial cleaners. Be brave and plug in an iron and press the few wrinkles starting on low heat, on the wrong side of the fabric. Voila.

Thank you again.
Fidel, special thanks goes out to you for your professional advice.
I checked FedEx and UPS rates and they are ridiculous.
Btw, I actually tried the steamed bathroom idea before and it didn't really work form me. I thought I did something wrong...
Well, I will probably just trust the iron this time.
Thank you all for all the suggestions.

We took our daughter's First Communion dress and other dress clothes to Rome at Christmas. I would agree with Fidel's advice.

We bought a great travel iron that has the converter to 220 volts built in (you still need a plug adapter). I bought a tri-fold style garment bag that worked really well.

When pressing her dress, I used low heat, reverse side of the material. On part of her dress that was a thin material, I had also brought a thin white cotton "floursack" towel that I used as a pressing cloth. (Put it between the iron and the fabric). A sheet might also do the trick.

Enjoy your trip.

Most travel stores have a nifty little gadget called a "steamer." It works on both European and American current but does need a plug adapter. Just fill it with water, plug it in, and point the nozzle at the wrinkles. There are also aerosol sprays you can buy which let you spray the wrinkle and smooth it with your hands. They work amazingly well. I've used it on scarves and shirts, but I'd be a bit wary about spraying an entire dress, especially if it has any glittery decorations. Don't know how beading would hold up under the spray.

When I got married in Italy last year, I rolled up my wedding dress and put it in my carry on bag for the 9.5 hour flight!

Once I arrived, I took it to a laundromat and had it steamed. It was PERFECT!

And the crazy thing was that it was hardly wrinkled at all ... but of course I had it steamed anyways!

Just remember - rolling is good ... folding is bad.

Good luck!!

Cheers,
Crissy

www.sockmonkey75.blogspot.com

I was reading of a similar problem in a UK fashion mag and this is the solution they suggested! I LOVE it :)

http://www.whirlpool.co.uk/en_GB/whr...ome/index.html

How much is that baby?

According to the mag .... 200 GBP!!!!!

... but it is only US$200 from the US website.

Great suggestion Crissy, and I love your username!