Cleaning composite/blend textiles

I am currently treating a wedding dress from 1940 for a university
treatment subject.  I've run up against a cleaning brick wall
though, as the two main textiles are both blends or composites of
protein and cellulose fibres (a viscose/silk satin and a cotton/silk
lace).  There is fairly extensive discolouration to the central area
of the dress, which has spread from the front through all layers of
fabric while in storage.  Ideally, this would be at least stabilised
if not removed altogether. I have been trying to find information on
cleaning this but there seems to be nothing out there that deals
with combinations of fibres, short of compromising or prioritising
one over the other. All the information I find seems to say do one
thing for protein-based materials, and another completely different
thing for cellulose-based.  To add to the complication,

I am working in a space-restricted environment, where I am sharing a
lab with 40 other students, and a very large wedding dress that is
too large for the biggest sinks in the lab, and several times larger
than the suction table.  While the lab is great, it is in no way
designed to handle large textiles, which further limits any options
that have been considered.

I'd love to know if anyone has dealt with this type of problem, or
if there are any resources you could refer me to, for best practice.
I have until mid-April 2015 before I have to submit my treatment,
but I also have a minor thesis to write this year so if there are no
resources available, this may become my topic.

Kylie Howe


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 28:40
                  Distributed: Sunday, March 22, 2015
                       Message Id: cdl-28-40-018
                                  ***