How to Keep Clothes Preserved

Hello,

I handle vintage & antique garments for a living, and I've worked with museums (including the Smithsonian) for the last 11 years. It is important that the items be clean & dry, but it's also important with natural fibers to allow the items to "breathe" (expand & contract). If you are storing only synthetic items, it's not important to allow them to breathe, so in this case you can seal them airtight.

To avoid yellowing, I wrap items in unbleached 100% cotton muslin that's been washed at least once. If the items are well-wrapped, you can store them in cardboard, wood, etc without worrying that the acid of the container will affect the item itself. I also recommend that the item be checked every year for any evidence of pests. With durable fabrics, some people like to wash the item yearly also. This will eliminate any yellowing that could otherwise build up over years sitting unwashed.

Hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful

My daughters are 20 & 22 and I have several of their blankets and clothing that I have saved for them and they still smell and look brand new. Some of the clothes I let them have while growing up for their dolls and they still have them. I didn't do anything special to keep them. Some of them are in my cedar chest. Others were just kept in the closet with our other bedding. And even the ones they played with still look and smell nice. They have them stored in a cardboard box now. As long as you don't put them out in a damp garage or storage shed you shouldn't have any problems.

My mom actually did this for me. She took them to a dry cleaners, they cleaned them and packed them in little boxes. The boxes look like a small version of the box you would preserve a wedding gown in. GL!

I had taken my childrens christening outfits to the dryclearners and they cleaned them and then we 'stored' them...just like a wedding gown can be 'preserved'.
perhaps you could try that? or what about those bags that they have where you vaccum the air out of the bag? and then store it in a container?

I use to manage a bridal shop in Lakeland and on several occasions we would preserve items such as you have described. The preservation not only works on bridal gowns but also other numerous items. Try calling around to several of the cleaners or bridala salons. You can also have them research for you as to how many items can fit in the preservation box to save on cost.

Talk to someone who works at a craft store and/or try a dry cleaner that preserves wedding gowns. From what I hear it's very important that whatever you are trying to preserve be very clean and then kept in an acid free wrapper of some sort.

What kind of yarn? natural fiber or senthetic?

Well I'm no professional, but my Mom just gave me a bunch of baby items-layette, blankets, christening dresses, rattles etc that were mine when I was a baby(40 yrs ago!) and they were in excellent condition, most of the clothes are this amazing delicate sheer cotton with all kinds of crazy intricate embroidery and pintucking-she said she just cleaned and pressed them(the clothing items that required it)and wrapped some of the more delicates in tissue paper and stored them in a plastic/vinyl zippered bag-pressed as much of the air out as possible, and just kept them in a closet that she kept a container of damp-rid in.....I've just started doing the same......I would just check on them from time.....good luck!

Check with a dry cleaner and see if they do preservation. Lots of them do that for wedding dresses, so maybe they can do it for the things you have too.

I did the same thing for my daughter and all I did was put some mothballs in a dark plastic garbage bag and store things in an old trunk but if you have a cedar closet or chest that is best. I also stored them in a dry place out in my shed as I had no attic. The clothes were fine when time to give them to her other than to rewash so the mothball smell was gone.

Would the new bags where you can pump out the air do it or would you need to add cedar chips?

I have my daughters blankets and 25 years later they look like new. I have kept them in the cedar chest. I would think that if you a dry cleaners that does wedding dress preservation they could do the same type of thing with those items. But, for me the cedar chest has preserved some of her baby outfits and blankets.

I used to preserve wedding dresses for a dry cleaners. The trick is to make sure the clothing is clean and dry and then seal it up air tight (pushing as much air out as possible as you seal it). The air tight part is VERY important. You might want to try doing it with one of those large "ziplock" type of bags that are made for clothes.

Either vacume sealing (not space bags) or What I used was a 5 gallon pickel bucket! Seems silly but I got a few from the restaurant I worked at. I washed and dried them thoroughly after soaking them in water with baking soda over night. I put in blankets, cloths, birth anouncnents, a fishing reel, even his belly button piece all with a bag of cedar shavings dumped in the bucket. It was easy to transport and stack. NOTHING smelled like pickels a year later and the lid was air tight.

A.

Hello Lanta,

If you go to U-haul they sell large ziplock bags, put your items in them and vaccum all the air out this will preserve your items. Hope this helped.

Hello,

I know that drycleaners advertise preserving wedding dresses so that it doesn't turn yellow. Maybe the company that can do this can also preserve the "firsts" for you.
Good Luck,
B.