reCollections: Caring for Cultural Material 2

Handling, Transportation, Storage and Display

Caring for Cultural Material 2

In this volume:

Textiles

–

–

–

–

–

–


TEXTILES
In this chapter:
–	Objectives
–	Introduction
–	What do we mean by textiles?
–	What are the most common types of damage?
	Common causes of damage
–	The do's and don'ts of handling textiles
–	The do's and don'ts of labelling textiles
–	Historical costumes—why they should not be worn
–	Storing textiles
–	Storing accessories
–	The best materials for storing and displaying textiles
–	Displaying textiles
–	Open hanging methods for flat textiles
–	Displaying historic costume
–	Cleaning textiles
–	Summary of conditions for storage and display
–	Textiles in Australia's climatic zones
	MORE ABOUT TEXTILES
–	A note on the use of Tyvek
–	Selecting fabrics, threads and stitches for textile conservation
–	For further reading
–	Self-evaluation quiz
–	Answers to self-evaluation quiz

Search reCollections

TEXTILES

All the most common types of damage to textiles are caused by:

poor handling;
wearing historic costume;
poor storage methods;
inappropriate display methods;
chemical changes in the textiles themselves;
chemical changes caused by contact with other materials, such as perspiration and atmospheric pollutants; and
various combinations of any and all of these.

The following sections will outline practical steps you can take to minimise this type of damage.