A Reader Question

DeluxeVille reader Rebecca recently sent me an email asking a question about cleaning a vintage dress her daughter recently found. She also had a question in regards to the maker of the dress....

Hi there, My daughter is starting to get her own little style thing going on and just bought an adorable Lucy style dress. It has one label in it "Miss Jahara". No cleaning instructions or size. It fits her like a dream and she loves it, but it definitely smells, well, vintage. Any ideas on where to find more info on this dress and how to clean it?
Thanks,
Rebecca

My best advice for cleaning vintage clothing is to give the item a 24 hour soak in a mixture of laundry detergent and one of these laundry boosters for extra cleaning power......biz (people swear by biz) /borax washing soda /oxy clean /arm and hammer washing soda. Then hang outside in the sun shine to dry. I use this method with all my vintage clothing that have that musty vintage smell to them and it works every time. Just make sure your fabric is color fast before soaking and that you also have an idea of what type of fabric your dress is made of. Some fabrics will shrink when washed.
Also have a look at this site for more vintage cleaning advice...
Vintagevixen.com
Fedora Lounge
Ebay

I have never heard of the label "Miss Jahara" so my guess is that this was probably a dress that might have been purchased from an individual dress maker who owned a dress shop in a small town. I'm also giving an educated guess that this dress is probably what I would refer to as a "junior" or "teenage" dress....due to the use of the word "Miss". Perhaps a reader might be able to help with information on the label name "Miss Jahara"? Does anyone else out there own a "Miss Jahara" dress?