Cleaning precious wall hangings

This is a hoot - really nice!

Good questions. Obviously you've tried vacuuming with some pantyhose over the nozzle? And you could do Brenda's trick of blowing through from the back with a hairblower.

I don't know if you pre-washed any of the fabric on this - if so, you could, could, if you're sure about your beadwork & embellishment - do a very gentle wash with Orvus or some other quilt cleaner (Fairfield makes one - it's a non-soap thing). Then lay it out and let it dry. I wouldn't tumble it (we're lucky enough to have one of those Maytag Drying centers - so I can just lay sweaters, quilty things, etc out on one of the shelves and then dry with low or extra low heat).

This you could definitely vacuum, then ought to be able to wash with something like Orvus or Eucalan (knitter use for wool - it's non-soap, but cleans, and apparently moisturized the natural fibers - doesn't get rinsed out). Just the gentle swishing. Or you could wash with plain Ivory dish soap, and a touch of white vinegar in cool water. Swish, and then squeeze, don't wring. Then wrap in towels to blot it out, and eventually lay it out to block back into shape. But, if the vacuuming does the trick - you could stop there.

Have fun.

ellice

If you do decide to wash the item(s), do so in the bathtub. Here's how I wash this type of stuff. First prepare the soapy water and lay the item in the tub and then gently sort of press it into the water several times and then let it soak a bit. Once I'm sure it is clean enough, I drain the tub and press on the item several time to squish water out. Then I loosely roll it up lengthwise and press on it again to squish out the water. I unroll and reroll in the opposite direction to squish out more water. Now I rinse the item in the tub using the same process. Once I am sure all of the soapy water has been removed, the item is thoroughly rinsed and I have rolled and squished as much water out of the piece while still in the tub, I will lay the piece on several large towels and lay it on the counter. Now I *lean* on it (as heavily as I feel the item can endure) to make the towel absorb as much of the moisture still present in the item. If the item is wrinkled, I will press it as dry as possible but this might not be possible with the heavily embellished piece! I also always lay things flat to dry -- usually on the ironing board or the washer/dryer. Keep us posted on what you decide to do, OK? CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Much thanks for the advice, ellice and Tia Mary.

It is probably a good thing that Joann's and Hancock Fabrics didn't have Orvus when I ran out to get some yesterday as discussions about fibers and beads that may or may not be colorfast slowly rose to the surface of my neural network. I don't want to take the chance that the grounds of either piece may become discolored after washing and have decided to try the vacuuming method. Neither piece looks dirty so removing surface dust with my dust buster should work.

My question on this - I have some old pieces my Grandfather did (he died almost 41 years ago)...will the hair dryer on low work on that too? I'm kind of afraid that the mesh (they are needlepoint...) will disintegrate on me. Any ideas for cleaning precious OLD wall hangings? (One is probably closer to 60 years old...)

Louise

anne wrote:

I have washed very old ones , after taking them out of their cardboard frames on which they were glued [brrrr] in a very luke water with some baby hair shampoo.... let it soak a bit , threw the water out, took out the xst, put in new clean luke water , put xst in to soak , third bath was with tap water ,,, came out as NEW , no harm to any thing. mirjam [mine were about same age and were hidden and carried bad conditions.]

Thanks! I'll try it. I certainly have enough baby shampoo around here with two little ones...

Louise

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote: