This article is an update of our old article!
Kate at the Hillsboro Museum, above; members brought their quilts
and asked questions and/or had a quilt assessed.
The advice in this post is referring to antique quilts, though it might apply to modern quilts. If you are given a quilt, this information can guide you in asking the person gifting you questions which will assist you in taking good care of your quilt.
Right, Kate darning a hole in the the back of the antique Star of Bethlehem quilt.
- Handling
- Strike a Balance: Display or Use?
- Provenance
- Fading
- Best Choices: Ideas
- Environment
- Foxing
- Mold
- Pests
- Repair, Restoration, Conservation
- Storage
- Displays
- Boxes and Tissues
- Folding
- Cleaning
- Hand-Washing in Cold Water
- Vacuuming
- NO Dry Cleaning
- Other Resources
Remember, we specialize in the repair of antique quilts, in keeping with the antique quilt’s year of birth and using traditional techniques, and all are hand-stitched. Our estimates for repairs are usually free. Contact Kate at 503-970-2509; her email is dkatiepowell @ aol.com (So sorry, but we got too much spam — please copy and remove the spaces!)
HANDLING
Above, Mitchell assessing a Bengali Quilt from the Campbell House
(a house museum in Spokane, Washington); everyone used the protocol below.
- When handling a very old antique quilt, use clean cotton gloves or latex gloves. If you do not have these, wash your hands, do not use hand cream, and do not touch your face or hair (body oils).
- Always assume the quilt is fragile, and to that end:
- Especially if it is a large fragile quilt, have help in carrying and opening the quilt. Have the area you are going to unfold the quilt prepared ahead of time: topped with a clean sheet (no softeners or bleach) if possible, and free of objects.
- Never grasp at a fragile textile with your fingers; use your broad hand splayed open to lift, fold or cradle.
- Make sure you do not have anything on your body that is sharp and can catch the quilt and rip it as you handle it — rings, watches, etc. I have been known to take off belts as well if I am working on a textile so that I do not lean over it and catch a sharp part on the textile.
STRIKE A BALANCE: DISPLAY OR USE
Caring for a quilt is a balance between protection and use. Often I caution antique quilt owners not to use their quilts, not even to use them in a spare bedroom. You might think that extreme, but we suggest you look at the age and condition of your quilt, and ask yourself the following question about your antique quilt:
- Is it an heirloom quilt?
- Is it a fragile quilt?
- Are the seams intact?
- Is the environment in which it is going to be displayed safe, that is, free of children and pets or adults who are rough on furnishings in general?
If the answer to any of these questions for an antique quilt is yes, then it is not advisable to use the quilt!
quilt with crewel work, shown left.
First, assess the quilt.
If the quilt is in reasonably good condition and not threadbare, ripped, or having issues with seams coming apart, then it may be a candidate for gentle use or display.
But, if your home is full of pets and small or unruly children (or adults), then it is advisable to keep a family quilt tucked away until the children are old enough to learn to be careful with an older quilt, or the adults have moved on!
Next, is it a cotton quilt (shown below), or is it made of mixed materials (cotton, silk, velvet, crewel work, embroidery), such as a Susan’s Crazy Quilt, shown left?
shown right, was an exception.
Mary’s was a double bed sized quilt, and while there was normal wear and tear from daily use, the family took good care of the quilt. MPFC restored the degraded pieces because Mary wanted to be able to gently use it. Mary’s environment was a good candidate for gentle use, and she wanted to follow our advice on the environmental requirements. The quilt now graces the top of her guest bed.
An antique quilt with a lot of embroidery or crewel work might be a better candidate to display behind glass, or remove (store) when inappropriate people are visiting.
PROVENANCE
This brings up the unfortunate issue of hiding it away.
Over the years I have gotten many calls where someone found a quilt tucked safely away in a closet after a relative died, and they know nothing about it!
An aside, for fun, on the topic of provenance or for quilt lovers, the film How to Make an American Quilt is excellent!
FADING
The largest amount of fading comes from direct sunlight, even if the light does not hit the quilt directly, if it fills the room then it can fade a quilt. Northern exposure is best to combat fading, but even northern sunlight can eventually cause fading, but very very slowly!
By the way, so can fluorescent lighting, and some other kinds of lighting — but again, to a lesser degree that direct sunlight.
BEST CHOICES: IDEAS
If you have a guest room, preferably with northern exposure, where you can keep the door safely locked from small children and pets, then displaying it on a bed will not harm it. Cover the top of the guest bed with a clean sheet or clean light-colored bedspread devoid of perfumes, bleach or softeners, and gently open the quilt on the bed, remembering not to pull or tug on the quilt to center it. Ask a second person for help if necessary.
Specialty display boxes can be made to show off your quilt and protect it; a conservator can tell you if it is strong enough to hang gently over a painted pole.
Displaying it on a wall behind glass is another option, where pets and children cannot reach it, and again, the room should have northern exposure. The simplest way is to create a hanging mount from a 4-inch or larger rod mounted to sit 6-inches or more from the wall, sealed with acrylic paint. The glass can be a framed piece that hangs over the quilt. You can place the folded quilt over the rod, but be sure to unfold and change the display of the quilt seasonally to ensure that the quilt does not fade in one quarter!
Any other display should be created with the advice of a conservator, curator or other professional. The best way to find out who in your community might have experience creating displays is to contact your local museums or art galleries and ask who they use for display boxes, or a seasoned quilting society. Some historical societies have lists of members who have experience with antiquities.
We are available for consultations, or you can find a conservator in your area here: https://www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator
An antique silk cigar quilt, right.
I like to tell clients a good rule of thumb is to treat your antique quilt like you would your grandmother:
- She doesn’t like to be too warm to too cold (don’t leave her in the attic or basement)
- She doesn’t like to be left out in direct sunlight or rain
- She doesn’t want to be stuck in the basement, attic or the garage (the latter is full of carbon fumes and dirty items, even if you keep yours clean)
- She wants to be handled with care
- She doesn’t want to breathe smoke, steam, or airborne grease.
Taking care of an antique quilt is not as hard as it sounds, if you follow sound advice.
Notes on cleaning are at the bottom!
ENVIRONMENT
Remember, sunlight and fluorescent lighting causes irreversible damage to fabrics, and silk is especially susceptible. Fading, brittleness and splits are all evidence of light damage. If your quilt is eligible for light use or year-round display, make sure the room’s windows are north-facing, and draw the drapes when the room is uninhabited as even ambient light is hard on older fabrics.
Our family’s 200-year old Crazy Quilt, left, is in good condition mostly from being stored
properly, even though it lived for a half century in a California beach community.
Smoke and accumulated tars, whether from cigarettes, pipes, cigars or wood stoves, are extremely damaging to textiles. If your home is one in which this is a frequent occurrence, it is not advised to display your quilt unless you can do so behind glass or completely away from the smoke.
Keep antique quilts away from a kitchen and wood stoves, as steam, heat, and grease can accumulate and/or add to the dust and debris that is normal to a home causing stubborn stains which may not be able to be removed.
All of the advice above for antique quilts can be applied to other textiles!
FOXING
Foxing exhibits as a small dot-like stain that many people think is rust. Zerophilic fungi create the rust-colored spots, which are not rust, but the result of a melanin type exudate.
Unlike mold, foxing cannot harm living beings, as in family members or pets, but foxing can be spread from one item to another. If you notice foxing on a quilt place it in a separate container such as a textile box or blanket bag, and wash your hands before handling other textiles or paper.
Foxing and molds on a suitcase liner, left.
NOTE: Clients often ask about bleaching these foxing spots. Do not try this! Hydrogen peroxide or bleach may reduce the color a bit, but will weaken the fibers in the cloth and potentially ruin your quilt. Contact a conservator!
MOLD
If your quilt is ever drenched (broken pipes, roofing problem or flood) contact a conservator immediately. Do not lift it from a bed or a storage box unless you see dyes running or there is no one to contact. In that case handle as discussed above, and carefully lay out on a clean pale sheet to dry in normal temperatures out of direct sunlight, without a heater.
Mold is potentially dangerous, and also can spread. If you find mold on an antique quilt contact a conservator.
Notes on cleaning are at the bottom!
PESTS
Insects (including moths) can be found in adult or larvae stages.
They can be kept at bay with a drop or two of cedar oil or pure essential oil of lavender, refreshed monthly. Lavender or cedar oils interrupts the insects ability to find one another and mate. KEEP THE OIL FROM TOUCHING THE QUILT! I keep mine away from the objects in storage by placing the lavender essential oil on a tissue, then placing the tissue in a sturdy small clean paper box (think of a jewelry sales box), so that the oils cannot come into contact with the objects but the scent disperses. The trick is not to use to much oil, so that it does not seep through the box.
If you find textiles harboring insects, they should be immediately wrapped in a clean sheet and placed in a plastic bag, isolated from all other textiles, and treated by a conservator.
Regarding cedar chests, see below in STORAGE.
REPARATION, RESTORATION, CONSERVATION
From time to time repairs are necessary in order to save a quilt. Rips, tears, loose seams, missing quilting are all items to possibly repair, such as the tear below right.
Use cotton or silk thread, whichever is appropriate for the textile, and never polyester thread. Cotton and silk will expand and contract with the quilt fibers, but polyester does not, eventually abrading the fibers.
Make your stitches even and do not pull them too tight.
Below, Mary’s Log Cabin Quilt during repairs.
STORAGE
Do not store your quilts (or any textile) in an attic! Heat and possible carbons can penetrate storage containers and make the fabric brittle.
DISPLAYS: see ideas above in “BEST CHOICES: IDEAS”.
BOXES + TISSUE
To properly store a textile, you need acid-free tissue and acid-free boxes. Do not store quilts long term in plastic bags (though if you find pests in the quilt you can set it into a plastic bag for a short time — a few weeks — while you get advice on ridding the quilt of pests).
A common problem we encounter is clients who tucked a quilt into a Cedar Chest for safekeeping, hoping to keep away the moths and other insects. Wooden boxes, and especially cedar, contain acids, oils and resins which continue to fume for years, even when you cannot smell the cedar scent. This is wonderful for pest control; unfortunately, woods continue to leach out color in their resins onto the quilts. We have seen clients who placed quilts and other keepsakes into their hope chests and come back to them years later and find large swaths of brown-orange stain on the quilts.
For this reason, you want to keep your quilt protected from touching the wooden sides of any chest in which you store it. We recommend acid-free boxes (see below).
FOLDING
The folds should be padded from the inside with acid free paper to avoid permanent creasing and splitting, especially if the fabric has been painted or has a very crisp details, such as is shown left, in Kate’s Great-grandmother’s Crazy Quilt.
We use a two-part method. For each fold made::
- Lining the flat side to be folded with acid-free tissue;
- Creating an acid-free tissue roll that is about 3-inches, which is tucked into the fold.
NOTE: Storage alternatives in the USA have disappeared, or are s
o outrageously expensive that they are not an effective alternative.
Until we find an alternative, these are our best suggestions:
Don’t fold the quilt too tightly. Buy a box that is large enough to take your quilt, at last 24″ x 36″ or 30″ x 30″, and tall enough. If you fold your quilt ahead of buying the boxes and measure the folded dimensions, you will know what size will fit your quilt.
Maintenance: Seasonally, or at least once per year, the quilt should be removed from storage, refolded (in a different pattern) and fresh new acid free tissue paper used to minimize damage from creasing.
Textiles expand and contract with humidity shifts and temperature shifts. At risk, fragile or brittle fibers should never hang or be folded tightly as the folds can cause abrasion of the strands and damage quilts that are sitting in boxes without human interaction.
Do not store quilts long term in plastic bags (a short time to contain pests is fine, see above on PESTS) due to moisture from condensation or fumes from plastic.
An Acid-free box is best, but there are problems getting them now, in 2025. Most companies are not carrying large enough boxes for a quilt. We used to suggest acid free boxes from Talas, but they have become too expensive for most people, especially with shipping. Until we find a good acid free alternative, wrap your quilt in a clean unbleached sheet inside an open box in the bottom of the cedar chest, or set it wrapped on a high shelf in your bedroom closet. I suggest placing a few drops of pure lavender oil next to it on a tissue, and replenishing the lavender frequently.
If you can find a large enough container such as this Sterilite Storage container, which seals completely from pests, then wrapping your quilt in a clean non-bleached sheet and placing it into the container with lavender is a good interim solution.
Never use the vacuum-seal bags on any antique textile!
The following items should never contact the quilt in storage: brass pins, iron, wood, newsprint or newsprint paper, post-its, unwashed cloths, plastic films, acidic tissue papers (including anti-tarnish tissue papers with a pinkish cast), labels, tapes, or brightly colored textiles that might leech color. All will cause irreversible damage.
Provenance is the history of the item: age, who made it, what family members it was gifted to or who purchased it and the maker, materials, and any other or notes about the quilt can be written in pencil on white or natural colored paper and placed on top of the tissue or taped inside the box. If you have a hand-written item that was written in pen from another family member and want to keep it as provenance with the quilt, slip the note into plastic before storing it in the box. Never use Sharpies or other ink pens near textiles.
Above, Kate trying to remove dyes which ran when a person tried to clean a
lovely modern quilt, and the green dyes ran. Unfortunately, the experienced quilter had
not tested the fabrics before using them to see if their dyes were prone to running.
CLEANING
First, remember we are discussing antique quilts. Not a quilt made in the last fifty years, though precautions are still a good idea, as shown in the modern quilt above, where a very experienced quilter washed her quilt and the dyes ran..
HAND-WASHING IN COLD WATER
If a family quilt made from cotton is given to you, ask questions about whether they have ever washed the quilt. If they have washed it and had no issues with migrating dyes, then it is a good chance you will not have these issues if you hand wash the quilt. If they haven’t, assume that you should ask a conservator if the quilt can be washed.
Do not ever wet or dry clean a crazy quilt or other quilt made from silk or many materials, or one that contains crewel or embroidery. Ask a conservator.
If you decide to hand-wash a quilt after verifying it is cotton and that it has been washed previously, wash it is a clean bathtub, making sure that after the tub is cleaned you thoroughly rinse the tub from scrubbing cleansers. Place the STURDY quilt into the tub, and use a gentle detergent such as Orvis WA Paste (it comes in HUGE containers, lasts forever, and is excellent on other delicates as well)! The quilt can be loosely folded, because unless you have to GENTLY work a stain, you will be agitating the quilt gently with an up and down motion.
When rinsing, make sure you completely drain and refill the tub several times., gently agitate to move clean water through the quilt, all to ensure that no residue of detergent lingers.
For items like crazy quilts (many types of fabrics) or a silk quilt, assume that you should not wash it. EVER! Instead, try vacuuming!
VACUUMING
Dust and dirt can do a great deal of harm when it becomes embedded in a textile.
Once or twice each year, thoroughly but gently vacuum your antique quilt, which also gives you a chance to inspect it if it is in storage.
Image from the Victoria and Albert Museum
To do this, lay the quilt flat on a large table or a large bed covered with a clean sheet (with no starch or softener added during washing cleaning.)
Purchase a small nylon screen (fully edged); make doubly sure that there are no edges with which to snag textiles. Wash it with soap and water, then make sure it is completely dry for 48 hours.
Using a canister (hose-style) vacuum cleaner to vacuum the quilt through the screen, attach an upholstery attachment tool. Turn on the vacuum on the lowest possible suction.
We bought this model: the Green Label Brand Micro Vacuum Accessory Kit Compatible with Dyson Vacuum Cleaners, but it is no longer available from this site.
Suction can be controlled by an adjustment slider on the wand — set the holes to the open setting and test it, then move it to the lowest suction for an antique quilt. Do not rub back and forth. Lift the screen to reposition it instead of dragging it across your textile. Gently turn it over to vacuum both sides.
NO DRY CLEANING!!
Dry cleaning tumbles all items in a chemical bath as part of the process, and neither chemicals nor tumbling are advised for any antique quilts. Common dry cleaning solutions can dry fibers and very little research has been done on the long-range effects of dry cleaning, which is one reason why it might be best for a conservator to clean the quilt or recommend a cleaner that uses a gentle solution meant for antique fibers.
There are specialty cleaners in larger cities; ask them if they hand wash and air dry their quilts flat (which you want), or tumble the quilts. If it is the latter do not have them clean your quilt.
The dyes used in older fibers and quilts are not necessarily water-fast and may run on adjoining areas. Wet cleaning quilts is not advised.
Other resources for your perusal can be found here. Two caveats:
- MPFC may disagree with even good publications, especially older ones.
- Stay far, far away from DIY sites, such as reddit, quora, eHow, and even Martha Stewart. Do not trust AI, because they glean information from the internet and you don’t know where the information is sourced. Any one of them may have good ideas, but I cannot endorse them at this time.
Resources to trust:
Victoria and Albert Museum: Cleaning Textiles
Smithsonian Institution:
I do not recommend their Stain Removal page, as it encourages someone with no training to venture forth. I believe a layman might cause damage with the information attached.
American Institute of Conservation has pages of free downloadable information about many items, including Textiles, however you can get lost in technical language. The following are user-friendly:
- Caring for Your Treasures
- The older publication, “How do I care for Textiles?“
- Recovery Guidelines for Textiles and Clothing in Flooding or Water Related Disasters or
- Salvaging Water-Damaged Textiles
dkatiepowell @ aol.com / mitchellrpowell @ aol.com
(So sorry, but we got too much spam — please copy and remove the spaces!)
503.970.2509 / 541.531.2383
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