Antique textiles need TLC

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Those of us who own antique textiles, including quilts, doilies, embroidered linens, clothing and woven bedcovers need to know how to care for them.

“How to Conserve Antique Textiles” was the topic of a Brown Bag Lunch Series lecture on May 30 at the Page Farm and Home Museum at the University of Maine. Speaker Susan Smith, registrar for the Page Museum and the Hudson Museum at UMaine, had more good advice than there was time to dispense to the dozen or so listeners at the talk.

Those who attended the talk asked lots of questions – such as how do you conserve and care for items made of human hair. Answer: Keep it where bugs can’t get to it – which was also one of the answers to: How do I care for my old textiles?

Smith said that environment, light, temperature, relative humidity, pollution, airborne soil, as well as display and storage concerns are all factors that need to be taken into account when conserving antique items made of cloth.

Exposure to fluorescent lighting, she said, will yellow fabric. Exposure to sunlight will take moisture out of fabric and fade it, causing cumulative and irreversible damage.

Textiles should be stored where they will not be subject to extremes in temperature – such as in attics. Nor should they be stored in places where they will be exposed to high humidity, such as cellars, or too little humidity – the attic again.

“Textiles are organic,” Smith said. “They have to breathe.”

One of the biggest enemies of antique textiles is bugs, such as the clothes moth, the carpet beetle and silverfish, which eat fabrics for breakfast, lunch and supper.

Mildew is another enemy. “Mildew stains are almost impossible to get out,” Smith said. Damp, poorly ventilated conditions encourage the growth of mildew.

One of the most common questions owners of old fabrics ask is how to clean the quilts, wedding dresses and other items they own. The answer is: Don’t, or carefully and minimally.

Smith recommends wearing white cotton gloves when handling antique linens or garments to protect the fabric from natural oils on human skin.

Clean antique fabrics with a vacuum cleaner that has adjustable suction, Smith recommended. Buy a small piece of fiberglass screen at the local hardware store, wash it and bind the edges. Place the screen on the item to be cleaned and vacuum through it. Use a back and forth motion and hold the vacuum hose at an angle. The item also can be brushed with a soft, clean brush, such as those used for applying cosmetics.

Smith said it is best to avoid washing antique textiles since dyes may not be stable and the likelihood of shrinkage or other damage is great. Most especially do not wash velvet or wool. She said dry cleaning antique fabrics is risky, too, and should be avoided.

Smith said that antique textiles need to be stored flat in acid-free boxes. She showed a blouse from the late 1800s spread out in a box she had made of acid-free cardboard. The blouse was stuffed lightly with acid-free tissue to retain the garment’s shape and to prevent fold lines that in future could become a place where the fabric threads might break or fray.

Antique garments also can be hung on wooden hangers padded with cotton muslin, the garment covered with the same fabric. Dana Lippet, curator at the Bangor Museum and History Center, demonstrated how to pad hangers suitable for hanging vintage garments.

A cedar chest is not a good place to store antique textiles, Smith said, because acid in the wood will yellow cotton and linen. She recommended lining the cedar chest with muslin to prevent antique fabrics from coming in contact with the wood.

Also beware of storing old textiles in plastic, which gives off gases that over time will damage fabric.

“Don’t wear vintage garments,” Smith advised. Perspiration and the oils on human skin will cause damage.

Acid-free tissue, storage boxes and other archival storage materials are available at www.gaylord.com or call 800-448-6160 to request a catalog.

To learn more about the Page Farm and Home Museum and its lecture series, call 581-4100. To learn more about the Bangor Museum and History Center, call 942-1900.

Snippets

The quilt “Star of Corinth,” created during the winter of 2007-08 by Corinth Historical Society member Carol Walker, will be raffled as part of the society’s second annual quilt show Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Corinth Historical Society Museum.

Raffle tickets for the quilt are now available. The cost is $1 each or seven for $5. Tickets also will be available at the museum on Old Home Day, Saturday, June 21, and 2-7 p.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 6, or from any historical society member.

To purchase raffle tickets by mail send a check to: Quilt Raffle, Corinth Historical Society, P.O. Box 541, Corinth, ME 04427.

Looking for clothing patterns designed with women of a certain age in mind, the packets illustrated with photographs of gorgeous gray-haired models wearing garments made from those patterns? The Vogue Woman collection does just that. Visit www.voguepatterns.com for more information.

Who says a wedding gown has to cost a fortune? Visit www.cheap-chic-wedding.com to view photos of wedding gowns created entirely from toilet paper.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8153