Need some advice from the wool experts....

[peewee]

I inherited some beautiful Native American blankets from my aunt. Unfortunately there was a flood at her house a couple of years ago and the blankets were damaged during this. To make a long story short the blankets were neglected until they were given to me today. I need to know what I can do to stabilize the wool until I can get the money together to send them out to be restored. There is some mold on them as well as them having a very musty odor. They are also brittle in some places. And the weaving's are coming apart in some places. I am not too upset about the weaving's coming apart.. That can be fixed. I was wondering if there was anything I can do besides setting them out in the sun to help with the mold and smell. Is there anything I can do about the brittleness of the wool?

Thanks

 

[HennyJenny]

PeeWee
You will need to be very very careful with these as the wool is even more damaged and brittle from the mold and mildew. Since you have some damage already - the sun may be your very best option. Once the mold and mildew is dry you can carefully brush the powder off (do this outside).

If you are feeling very brave you can put a couple of inches of lukewarm (more to the side of cool) water in your bathtub with lemon juice and salt. Do not scrub or wring out the blanket. Don't agitate the blanket in the water. You can gently wash the blanket then without wringing squeezing or anything else carefully take the whole dripping blanket back out into the sun and lay it flat on the grass with out pulling it or tugging it in anyway.

There are some very good wool washes that could help keep this from becoming more brittle as well - they have some natural wool oils in them. However, once wool becomes brittle the fibers are quite possibly beyond the average persons ability to repair.

If this is a vintage piece - I would strongly recommended not doing this yourself and taking it to a professional restorer. Vintage wool is very fragile when it is in good condition.

Maybe you could contact some restorers and get their opinions on the best approach since you are dealing with vintage Native American works you wouldn't want to further damage them.

I think there are a couple of spinners on here that may have some good ideas as well. Good luck - it sounds like you have some real treasures!

 

[peewee]

Thank you so much for your help HennyJenny. I am going to lay them in the sun for right now to see if I can get some of the smell out. Then like you said I will give them a good brushing with a soft brush. I am not brave enough to try to give these particular blankets a bath . That is something that I am going to leave to the pros. I really do not want to hurt these blankets more than they are.