Question about rolling quilts for storage

[Patricia C Crews <pcrews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following question was posed on the Quilt History list. I thought it would be helpful to secure the input of the Textile Conservation community. I would appreciate your comments and will share them with the other list.

For the reasons mentioned below, we store most of the International Quilt Study Center's collection of quilts in boxes -- folded, with the folds padded with tissue 'sausages.'

Patricia Cox Crews
Willa Cather Professor of Textiles &
Director, International Quilt Study Center
Dept. of Textiles, Clothing & Design
234 HE Building, P.O. Box 830838
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68583-0838
PHONE: 402/472-6342
FAX: 402/472-0640
pcrews1@xxxxxxx
----- Forwarded by Patricia C Crews/tcd/IANR/UNEBR on 02/14/2007 01:25 PM -----

"Lynne Z. Bassett" <lzbassett@xxxxxxxxxxx>

02/14/2007 09:16 AM

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Subject	[qhl] Question about rolling quilts for storage

Dear All,

As a museum collections consultant, I am often responsible for redesigning 
storage for costume and textile collections.  Many museums roll their quilts 
for storage, as recommended by many in the conservation community.  Personally, I 
have never favored rolled quilt storage, mainly because the layer that is 
rolled to the inside inevitably gets squished.  Recently, I was working with 
a collection that had rolled its silk quilts, and there was significant 
damage to the silks, which had become very distorted by being rolled on a 
tube; in some cases, the silks were actually broken across the crease lines. 
Even the cotton quilts looked awful because of all the wrinkling due to the 
rolled storage.  My other complaint about rolled storage is that it almost 
always takes two people to move a quilt on and off the storage rack--and I 
mostly work with small organizations that are lucky to have ONE person to 
care for the collections.

My questions are:  Is the conservation community still recommending rolled 
storage for quilts and, if so, why?  Are there any new techniques that are 
now being recommended?  

Thank you for your thoughts on this subject.

Best,
Lynne


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