Margaret's Cleaners Restores Fire-Damaged Stuffed Animals and Other Items

Fires are devastating. In an unexpected instant, all of your worldly belongings can burn into nothing. And, although these are just "things," it's heart-wrenching to watch your favorite possessions become irreparably damaged.

Recently, a family suffered a huge house fire. They brought us bags and boxes of burned and damaged stuffed animals, dolls, clothing, and other items. As we were unpacking the items from the boxes, we were overwhelmed by the burnt smell and sight of these loved belongings. We wore gloves and aprons to avoid covering our hands and clothing in soot and ash.

Margaret's cleaned and restored over 3,000 items for this family. In the aftermath of such a huge tragedy, it makes us feel good to return these things in good condition. It's one less heartache this family has to endure.

Trust Margaret's

We use tried-and-true, eco-friendly methods to clean and restore your textiles.

If your wardrobe and/or textiles suffer smoke-, water-, or other damage, Margaret’s will pick up items in San Diego and Orange counties, bring them to the processing facility, restore them to odor-free condition, store them until you’re ready, and then return them in ready-to-use condition. If you live outside of our pick-up area, Margaret’s offers a nationwide courier service.

Margaret’s works with your needs and finishes orders in a timely fashion. Depending on the condition of the items and the degree of damage, Margaret’s can generally clean and return items within 30 to 60 days—possibly sooner.

Herve Leger dress salvaged!

One loose thread can mean disaster, especially if it's a crocheted segment of a designer dress. If you think this Herve Leger dress can't be salvaged, think again.

Before

 

After

Our specialty seamstress used the original thread in this dress to re-crochet the broken segment. This laborious effort took nearly a day to complete.

After

Before

Sometimes people hang on to expensive garments that need repair because the garments are too valuable to throw away, but they're unsure of how to fix the problem. Find an expert seamstress or tailor who has experience working with couture garments; these experts employ high-end techniques to mimic the original looks and design.

Tell us: Do you have a garment that needs fixing? How long have you held onto it? Is it torn? Snagged? Ripped? Discolored?

Suede Belt Loop: Fixed

Suede is a type of leather that's made from the flesh side of the animal hide. The skin is rubbed to create a soft, napped surface. Generally, suede is made from lambskin; however, goat, calf, deer, and even pig skins are also common.

Both leather and suede are fabrics that require extra care. When they become torn or stained, they are difficult to mend.

Torn belt loop

This morning, our specialty seamstress received a brown suede jacket with a torn belt loop.

Jacket lining

Because the jacket was lined, she had to undo part of the lining to mend the tear.

Fixed belt loop
 

After she worked her magic, she restitched the lining, and voilà--just like new!

Invisible Stains & Plastic Windows

This gown was incorrectly preserved by another cleaner in the past. The box used for preservation was the outdated type with a plastic window. It had invisible stains when it was originally process, which oxidized or caramelized over time to cause all the dark yellow stains you see here.

As you can see below the gown brightened up a great deal and most of the stains were completely removed. Now it's on it's way to a proper preservation, which is why the buttons have been removed.

Thank You for the Wedding Gown Restoration!

(Click on image for larger view)
Last March I bought in my mother’s 67-year-old wedding gown to your Newport Beach store. They sent it to your La Jolla store to be cleaned and conservatively restored. It was to be worn by the bride’s granddaughter, (my daughter) at a wedding gown fashion show during which we wished to honor my mother for her 90th birthday. I want to thank you for doing such a wonderful job with the dress. My mother was delighted to see how you had improved her dress, which she had literally done nothing to preserve since 1941.

One of the pictures here is of my mother, Joyce, in the blue dress, now 90 years old with her granddaughter, Jamie, who is wearing the gown you restored so beautifully. (The little girl is Jamie’s daughter, Naomi.)
Again, my entire family thanks you for making such a wonderful memory possible for all of us and especially for my deserving mother.

Sincerely,
Ann B., Tustin, California

Margaret's Cleaners "Famous" Split Gown

Several years ago, Margaret's bought an old wedding gown at Goodwill, cut it down the middle, restored half of it, and then sewed it back together, as an example of what can be done with restoration techniques. The right side (as you look at this image) is "before" and the left side is "after". Most of the yellowing caused by age has been eliminated by the restoration process.

The gown is "famous" because it's been featured at all the bridal shows we attend and has even been on a TV news show about the restoration and preservation of wedding gowns.