Hello,
I have recently inherited a large cardboard box full of clothes. They are mostly everyday clothes, and one 1970s bridesmaid dress, that belonged to my mother. She passed away at a young age. My father couldn't bear to get rid of her things, so soon afterward he neatly packed up her clothes and stored them away. And there they remained for the next 36 years.
He has now passed them on to me, and the fact that he's kept them for so long has perhaps given them greater significance to us than they might otherwise have had, and I couldn't in any good conscience do anything other than to keep them as lovingly as he did. And, to be honest, I do want to keep and look after them, as we have so little else. However, I am at a loss over how best to care for so many items of clothing. I don't know how they've been kept over the past decades. I think they might have been kept in a trunk in the shed for a long time, and remarkably - barring one or two items - they are in very good condition. I have read up on clothes preservation, but most accounts focus on preserving one or two very important pieces - wedding dresses and the like - by purchasing specialist bags or boxes. However, with so many clothes, it is not financially or practically feasible to go down the professional preservation route, so could anyone give me any general clothing/fabric preservation tips that I could apply to a box of very everyday but very meaningful clothes?
My thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help. I'm really not sure how best to proceed.
Best wishes,
Steve
