How to ~ Cleaning Vintage Tapestry Tutorial

So I bought these vintage tapestry purses a while ago, and as you can see the larger one is quite yellowed compared to the makeup case.  I think that it’s just dust and dirt from being so old, so I wanted to try and clean it.

The biggest problem I faced when thinking about how to clean the purse is that I did not want it to get wet.   I was worried that if it gets wet the dyes will run and ruin the bag, so I needed to figure out some way to dry clean it as I do not think that any professional dry cleaners would do it ~ and even if they did, the chemicals might be too harsh for the threads.

Thankfully, there are other methods of cleaning available to me, so I tried one of these.  I borrowed a book called “Spotless” by Shannon Lush & Jennifer Fleming which has a lot of handy tips and hints for getting rid of stains using household products and not chemicals.

They even had a section specific for tapestry, and this is the advice they give for cleaning a tapestry piece.

“The best way to clean tapestry is with dry {flaked} bran.  Put a handful into a muslin cloth bag, heat it in the microwave for half a minute, then rub it over the tapestry.  The bran will absorb the dirt. 

You can also apply the bran directly.  Firstly, slightly moisten it with vinegar.  Add one drop at a time until it forms clumps like couscous, but not a ball.  Sprinkle this across the stain, rub backwards and forwards with a cloth or soft brush, then vacuum it off.”

I used the first method on my handbag:

Note:  I didn’t have any muslin cloth to put the bran into so I used a loose weave cleaning cloth.  Muslin is a very porous material so you just need anything with ‘holes’ in it.

Before:

After:

I do not think that you can really see the difference between the before and after photos, because although there was a slight difference to the colours of the tapestry I think that mostly the dust lifted from the fabric so it feels cleaner now.   It seems that the yellowing is not reversible, but I rather like the worn look of the bag.  It makes look loved!

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of “Spotless”  it’s available online through the ABC website and retails for $19.99 AUD. 

Link:  http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=162165

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.  ^ w ^

xox,

bonita

ONE DAY AND ONE SLEEP UNTIL MY SWEETIE IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  > U < *eeeeeeeeeee*