For you do it yourselfers here is a conservation tip straight from the conservatory that does the tapestries for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine here in NYC.
To ensure you get any moth eggs out of a fabric you need a commercial grade freezer or can attempt it with a home one if it's cold enough. I stress it myst be very cold. Forget your refrigerator freezer as it won't do the job.
Wrap your garment completely in plastic and drop into your freezer for 1 week. Remove said garment and bring it into a very warm room and let it warm up. Vacum anything you see on it and rewrap. Drop back into the freezer. Leave for another week and repeat the process. Repeat the cycle again for a minimum total of 3 cycles. You can do more if you feel like it as there are limits to how much you can do this.
Carefully vacum the entire garment. If you are not going to display the article put it back in the freezer.
The reasoning behind this process is that the artifical cycle you are creating mimicks nature and forces any Moth eggs to hatch. Moth eggs can lay dormant for many many years. By forcing the eggs to hatch and then refreezing them you kill the larvae.
For added measure if you piece was heavily mothed, wrap the piece in a cotton towel or heavy t-shirt and drop the piece after you have done the above freezing, into a sealable plastic container. Add Moth balls and let it set for a week. Remember that Moth Balls only kill active moths and larvae but does nothing to eggs.
John
To ensure you get any moth eggs out of a fabric you need a commercial grade freezer or can attempt it with a home one if it's cold enough. I stress it myst be very cold. Forget your refrigerator freezer as it won't do the job.
Wrap your garment completely in plastic and drop into your freezer for 1 week. Remove said garment and bring it into a very warm room and let it warm up. Vacum anything you see on it and rewrap. Drop back into the freezer. Leave for another week and repeat the process. Repeat the cycle again for a minimum total of 3 cycles. You can do more if you feel like it as there are limits to how much you can do this.
Carefully vacum the entire garment. If you are not going to display the article put it back in the freezer.
The reasoning behind this process is that the artifical cycle you are creating mimicks nature and forces any Moth eggs to hatch. Moth eggs can lay dormant for many many years. By forcing the eggs to hatch and then refreezing them you kill the larvae.
For added measure if you piece was heavily mothed, wrap the piece in a cotton towel or heavy t-shirt and drop the piece after you have done the above freezing, into a sealable plastic container. Add Moth balls and let it set for a week. Remember that Moth Balls only kill active moths and larvae but does nothing to eggs.
John
