Textile preservation techniques should be used when any garment needs to be stored long-term.

Most of the preservation work that Jeeves takes care of for our clients is for wedding dresses. Many women, after their wedding, want to keep their dress and hopefully pass it down to younger family members.

Preserving textiles is rather simple but requires meticulous care and access to the right materials.  All preservation materials that are in contact with the textile should be acid-neutral. Most generally available paper products are highly acidic which will leach onto the textile and cause fabric degradation and yellowing.

Jeeves employs methods that museums use for long term historical textile storage.

Garments are gently cleaned prior to preservation. Acid neutral tissue softens the folds to prevent creasing, each garment is placed into an acid neutral storage vessel and then wrapped with unbleached-unsized cotton muslin for additional protection. The storage vessel itself is encased in a cotton muslin outer wrap. Plastics of any sort are never used.

The last step in preservation is to store the vessel in an area of your home which the temperature and humidity is regulated. Garments should never be stored in an attic (too hot) or basement (too damp). An inside closet would be ideal.

Jeeves was called upon to take care of over 300 garments from the 1920’s & 30’s.

These garments had been passed down in the family and our client wanted them to be properly cared for long term storage. Jeeves took on the project and now the garments (pictured here) are safely in contact with the proper materials rather than sitting in a regular cardboard box.

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