There are a couple of things to consider when you are thinking about how best to stow your ballroom dresses . To start with, you need to make certain that the shade remains as true to the original as you can. Natural light is the foe here. The best thing to do is to acquire a dark-colored plastic cover which will protect the dress from fading. If you suspend the dress in its cover in a place that has loads of space around it, this will help to prevent creasing of the fabric. Something else to look out for is mold. This can develop on your dresses and damage them if they are stored in a damp location. So, a dry place is ideal and also open the cover to let some fresh air flow.

Moving on from how to store our ballroom dance dresses, let’s now take a look at the best way to care for them in terms of keeping them clean and well-presented. The care instructions supplied by the manufacturer or your dress-maker are an excellent place to start.

The chances are that if it’s practice dancewear with no embellishments or trimmings, then it might be machine-washable and almost certainly hand-washable. In either event, wash in cold water with a mild detergent. For competition dancing clothes, again if they are not finished with decorations such as stones and beads, you can try hand or a very cool machine wash – no more than 30 degrees Centigrade – to avoid shrinkage. Generally-speaking, it’s all right to machine-wash fabrics such as georgette and Lycra, commonly used in ballroom dance dresses.

Pre-wash treatments can be effective for heavy spots. You have to be especially careful if the dress has dark-colored satin bias binding as this can mark the material. So you have to be painstaking in making sure that the binding and the textile do not touch each other when still damp. This may sound like overkill, but you will be happy you did it.

Now if your ballroom dresses are decorated, then you should never launder or even dry clean them. The risk is that any stones will be scratched and lose their sparkle. What’s more, it’s even possible for the glue to dissolve. You can, obviously, spot clean with a brush.

Ballroom dresses can be freshened up by hanging them in a steamy situation. This will additionally help to smooth out creases. If a dress requires more than a steam, you can carefully hand-wash the body suit only with the gown turned inside out. Be sure to use a mild soap and cold water. Rinse out in cold water and do not wring the dress out before hanging it up to dry. If you have had to wash your ballroom dress in water, let it to drip dry over the bath tub. If the dress is especially heavy when wet, it might be a good idea to drape it over a clothes horse. This will help to prevent the material from stretching. This would be permanent. Bear in mind that fringe dresses can take three to four days to dry as it should be! So don’t wait till the last moment to wash it, if you need it for a particular occasion.

Finally, you should be very wary of ironing any part of your ballroom dress. Stretch fabrics should not be ironed at all. Otherwise, use a very cool temperature, especially with synthetic fabrics which can easily burn.

Hopefully, you have found this advice helpful. With a little thought about storage, cleaning and ironing your ballroom dresses , you will find that they keep their initial beauty much longer and no matter how much you invested in them, it will have been money well spent.

What music do I need to play soprano sax?
I want to learn to play soprano sax but all my music books are for alto or don't say which sax they are for. Will they work when I am playing alone or do I need music written for tenor? I am not knowledgable enough to transpose.

The music video for “Toes” by Zac Brown Band, featuring Flody Boatwood.