Calendar

Registration now closed

Preserving the Fabrics of Your Life

Taking Care of Historic Textiles

Learn what to look for when examining old fabric pieces, and the appropriate ways to preserve these textiles with Susan Jerome, textile conservator from the University of Rhode Island.

Quilts, samplers, wedding dresses, linen tablecloths and other textiles are precious heirlooms passed down through generations, often carefully stored in boxes or plastic bags. Caring for your grandfather’s baby clothes or your great-grandmother’s sampler can be a challenge. There are so many questions to consider: should you wash an old quilt? What about dry cleaning? What’s the best way to store a wedding dress? Can all the spots come out of the tablecloth or should you just live with it? And when should you call in a professional textile conservator? This program will combine a focused powerpoint presentation with demonstrations on a few simple preservation techniques and time to answer questions. The audience is invited to bring along textiles, descriptions and/or photos of their items to help answer questions.

Guest speaker: Susan J. Jerome is Collections Manager at the University of Rhode Island Historic Textile and Costume Collection.

The Somerset County Library System of New Jersey Common Heritage initiative has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these Library programs do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Will you need a special accommodation (including food allergy if applicable to the program)? If so, please contact the library and provide at least two weeks notice prior to the event date and the library will make every effort to honor all requests. Thereafter, requests will still be considered and may have less of a chance of being honored.

Upcoming events