Preserving Our Beloved Textiles

As the year comes to a close and the seasons change, many of us find ourselves going through our special textiles. You might be laying an heirloom table linen for the holiday or unpacking favorite sweaters you made with your own hands. (Or south of the equator, you might be packing your jumpers away for the summer!) I just recently began sorting through my great-grandmother Sallie's crocheted textiles. On this first day of winter, I'm choosing which piece I would like to lay out to meet the New Year.

Sallie Carter's crocheted lace and embroidered linens. Photo: Kate Larson.

As part of the Toronto Guild of Spinners and Weavers' Winter Social, members were asked to bring a tasty treat and "a textile treasure that means a lot to you—or perhaps a piece of fabric or fibre that you don’t know much about and want the opinions of other guild members [about]." I love this idea—what is your most treasured textile?

Washing woolens before packing them away during the warmer months will help keep pests away. Kate's Telemark Gloves from Spin-Off Summer 2014. Photo: Kate Larson

I often hear people asking questions about textile preservation. How to store and care for our beloved textiles, both new and old, is a concern for many spinners. Here are a few great resources available online:

• Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute  For textile and pest articles and links, scroll to the bottom.
• The Textile Museum at the George Washington University Museum Resources for textile care.