I've been repairing an Amish or Mennonite log cabin quilt made with many wool fabrics. The story of the quilt is here. As I pulled out my wools to find patching fabrics, I thought I'd post a bit on wool storage.
I have several piles of old wool fabrics in my stash of scraps for quilt repair. Quite a few years ago, I suffered an invasion of wool moths. Not fun!!! I dumped all my wools in the wash and a hot dryer, no matter if they would survive or not. Many did not. But neither did the moth eggs.
So now, for the survivors, I have devised this storage technique. I made bags out of some cotton flannel sheets I bought at a garage sale. That's on the assumption that the moths don't eat cotton, so it's a barrier to them.
The bags are tied at the top with a yarn bow, so they are simple to open and close.
I made little sachets filled with lavender that I stuff in the hole after I tie the top shut. Moths don't like the smell, so they don't come in through that opening. I refresh the lavender every now and then, when a sniff test tells me it's getting weaker.
It has worked so far!
I also store any quilts in my collection that have wool fabrics or wool batting similarly. Within their acid-free boxes, I wrap them in cotton and put in a few lavender sachets (with plenty of cotton between them and the quilt to protect the quilt from lavender oil).
How nice that moths are turned away by something that smells so sweet to us!
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