Wet Cleaning of Textiles

[Rini]

Hi everyone,
Can you suggest the best suitable  products/methods used for wet cleaning of a historic textile used in textile conservation.

Regards,
Rini

[Margaret (Meg) Geiss-Mooney]

Hi Rini – As a textile/costume conservator, my answer has to be “It all depends”. It depends on the specific historic textile itself as well as specifics of the physical location of where you want to do this wet cleaning. My suggestion is to contact a local textile conservator for a consultation about the specific historic textile(s) you are thinking about wet cleaning. Wet cleaning may not be the appropriate cleaning technique for that specific historic textile. Where are you located? If you are in the US, the professional organization for conservators, AIC, has a free online referral service available at:
http://tinyurl.com/findaconservator
 

[Sarah C. Stevens]

Hi there,

as another textile conservator, I’d like to second Meg’s response and add the following:

Wetcleaning is not a reversible treatment, i.e. you can’t ‘un-wash’ something, so careful consideration must be taken when contemplating its use.

 

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