Care and Repair for Wool Rugs and Quilts

Today's post is courtesy of Kathy Kansier, a friend and colleague who travels around the world, teaching, judging and appraising quilts. Kathy lives in Ozark, Missouri. Read more about Kathy at her website, or contact her via e-mail: ozarkquiltmaker@aol.com .

Some of my applique classes are wool applique classes. I also have quite a bit of wool for my rug hooking. I keep that wool in large sealed plastic boxes to keep the bugs away. I know other hookers who keep their wool in large plastic garbage cans. One older lady who has been working with wool for over 60 years keeps her wool garbage cans in the garage in the winter to keep the wool cold. It also helps to freeze any bugs or their eggs that may have gotten in her wool. She taught me to keep a bar of Yardley Lavender Soap in each container to keep out the bugs. I can buy these bars at Walgreens. I like this smell much better than the traditional mothball approach. I think that the cedar chest storage approach was also an attempt to keep the bugs away from wool.

I've asked many rug hookers if they have had problems with bugs eating their hooked rugs that they have on their floors. None have ever told me that they had any problems. Maybe they have and don't know it. The hooked rugs are fairly dense so they may not notice small bites in the wool. The antique hooked rugs were hooked on burlap and when that gets wet, it molds, rots and disintegrates. So ... wet washing them would not be good. Today's hooked rugs are mostly done on a linen or cotton base. Hooked rugs are usually put face down in the snow for a day to clean and then laid flat to dry. They are never washed. They can be vacuumed. They used to use a rug beater on them to remove the dust and dirt.

I do have a wool table topper with pennies (circles) around the perimeter that I made. Three years ago, it was on the top of a stack of quilts in my sewing room. It now has a small area with 3 small holes (1/4" across) that some kind of bug ate.  The holes didn't go through the wool. They just munched on the top fuzzy layer. It was expensive white Moda wool. I know I didn't have any mice or silver fish in there so it had to be some sort of bug. My guess would be that it was a moth or cricket. We live on 13 wooded acres. That table topper is now in our house and hasn't been munched on since. I often use lavender candles and sprays in the house so maybe that's a solution.

I had 24 x 24 pieces of Hobbs washable wool batting lying on a stack and found small holes eaten in those too. I called the Hobbs Batting Company and they said to store their wool batting in the plastic bag it comes in until it is going to be used in a quilt. They said that when it is used in a quilt and the quilt is finished with a binding, the bugs don't go through the trouble and effort to eat through the cotton top or bottom  or through the seam lines to get at the wool. Apparently the bugs are more lazy than they are hungry.

I currently have two bolts of beautiful wool from Scotland in the sewing room. They have been there for two years, uncovered. Nothing has touched them. I don't know why. Maybe my bugs have fled to a better feeding ground. Those bolts are going to be cut and put in kits next month for my spring workshops.

If I am using new or used wool for applique, I wash it first, in the washer with warm (not hot) water. I dry it in a warm (not hot dryer) and press it with a warm iron. This causes it to fell (not felt). The felling process causes the woven yarn to tighten up. Too much heat will cause it to mat and shrink too much. Soaking in warm or cool water with a little bit of mild soap causes the pores of the yarns to open up and easily accept dye when I am dying wool. I do not use spray starch on wool in fear that the sugar in the starch will attract bugs to the wool. I mix my own form of starch with vodka, lavender oil and distilled water. It works great on all sorts of fabrics and smells wonderful. No, I don't drink the leftover vodka.

Years ago, we would never have washed wool sweaters, skirts etc. They were always sent to the dry cleaners. In the summer, I hunt for old wool skirts, suits and sweaters at places like Goodwill. It is much less expensive to purchase and they are wonderful for cutting up and using in my rugs and applique projects. I take the clothing apart, wash and dry it. Large A-line skirts give me the bigger pieces. Suits can be difficult to take apart and the pieces aren't big. But ... they sometimes have great buttons on them that can be used as embellishments for my crazy quilts. You need 100% wool for rug hooking. You can get by with a wool blend for applique but 100% wool is preferred.

To test to see if the wool is 100% wool - pull a string of yarn from the fabric and light it with a match. If it burns and smells like hair burning, it's 100% wool. If the end of it melts and shrivels up, it has some polyester in it.

My mom knit many mittens  for us as kids and whenever she used wool yarn and they were accidentally thrown into the washer and dryer, they matted and shrunk. I'm sure it was the hot water and hot dryer.

If a wool quilt is sent to a dry cleaners, make sure they have experience in cleaning wool quilts. Good wool or wool that has been washed before using it in a quilt usually isn't scratchy. They are hot to sleep under. A wool quilt can be aired outside to remove odors. I realize that dry cleaning adds chemicals but I prefer dry cleaning a wool quilt over hand washing it. Wool quilts are like crazy quilts. They are not good candidates for wet washing. It will be interesting what others have to say about this. I could be wrong. 

You could Google 'caring for wool quilts' to find more info on their care. Rug hooking sites, wool applique sites and the dye companies like Cushing, Pro Chem and Dharma may have info on caring for wool. There are quite a few people using wool in their quilts. There are great quilt patterns for wool on wool, wool on flannel and wool on cotton. It is wonderful to applique. No edges to turn and a nice, cozy folk art look. There's nothing better than sitting in front of a nice fire in your fireplace in the winter and working on a wool project. Remember to have a pot of soup simmering in the crock pot.