Dear Judy Knight,
You have already received many great responses, but I am happy to be able to provide even more feedback from a C2CC Community expert, a conservator of textiles and upholstery.
"From your description, it is unlikely that the quilt harbors active or recently active mold. Nonetheless, to be safe, gently vacuum with a HEPA filtered vacuum. You can put a fine net over the vacuum nozzle or the upholstery brush head. A patting motion generates safe, low levels of suction.
As described in a previous response, vacuuming should be done outdoors or in a well-ventilated space, not near collections. For your safety, wear an N95 filtered mask, gloves, and a smock or apron. To echo Mr. Kronkright's answer, air circulation is key. Try to find a place where the piece might hang semi-outside, like an enclosed screen porch or an area where screened windows can be opened. That will help reduce the odor.
Wrapping in microchamber paper may not be practical for such a large object. Activated charcoal might be effective if airing out does not provide a satisfactory result; however, be sure that the charcoal is never put in direct contact with the textile. To utilize charcoal, consider making a container for the activated charcoal and securing it to the lid of an acid-free box or large plastic storage bin.
Please note that it is not advisable to wash the quilt. From the description, the textile sounds fragile. It is a good rule-of-thumb that any large, historic textile should only be wet cleaned by a trained textile conservator. This is in part because the weight of the wet fabric can led to damage. Also, degradation products and soluble dyes can migrate when wet."
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Amanda Kasman
Graduate Fellow
Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation
Wilmington DE
(843) 819-2406
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-28-2019 13:55
From: Judy Knight
Subject: Musty odors in textiles
What are the best practices for musty odor in a crazy quilt we'd like to keep?
A literature review has lots of suggestions from Hepa vacuuming, freezing, storing with desiccant packets, UV light, plus other non-museum references that suggest coffee grounds, activated charcoal, kitty litter, etc. so we are curious about current recommendations--we have it sealed in plastic temporarily and away from our collection area.
Should we deal with the musty odor first before freezing? If we are successful in killing the odor, have we also killed the underlying cause, the mold, mildew or fungus, or is an other treatment needed? We don't have access to a fume hood, and the quilt is 48" square, so Hepa vacuuming will be a time-consuming process though we do have the vacuum and a non-storage space we could use. We can't get inside the lined quilt without taking it apart, but it does not have interior ties and we suspect the velvet border and backing are not original so we contemplate opening it up for vacuuming. It is in otherwise good condition, mostly silks and cotton velvet, no shattering, does have cat hair on surface. The Laramie area house it came from was next to a creek, so it might have mildew, but we don't see any stains on the mostly dark surfaces--stains might be masked. Laramie is generally around 35% humidity or less so mildew is not something we are used to encountering.
References we have consulted are the 1993 Conserve-o-gram from the NPS and 2008 CCI note "Mould Growth on Textiles".
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Judy Knight, Collection Manager
Laramie Plains Museum
603 Ivinson Ave., Laramie, WY 82070