Quilts can be store-bought or handmade, family heirlooms, historical legacies, or Wal-Mart gifts. How to care for them depends entirely on what they are and of what they are made. However, some rules apply to all quilts, so we’ll cover the encompassing ones.
Wear cotton gloves or wash your hands often to remove damaging oils and dirt. Do not drink, eat, or smoke around the older textiles. Keep pretty much anything off your quilts or quilt storage units. Quilts crease easily with things of weight pressing on them and those creases can be hard to get out. Quilts should never be placed on, next to or in cardboard, untreated wood, or acidic paper (use rag only).
Never, ever EVER store quilts in direct sunlight. That’ll kill them, for sure. It oxidizes fibers and breaks down dye compounds. Store quilts in a dark place, but not the attic as the ventilation is usually too poor and not the basement, which is generally too damp. Perfect temperature is 65-75°F, and optimum humidity level is 45-55%. Make sure to keep your quilts away from vermin and moths and don’t use moth crystals, as they can harm your health.
Quilts can be either rolled or folded for storage packing, but fold loosely and if at all possible, place non-acidic tissue paper at the folds to keep them from creasing. Similarly, you can place a cotton sheet on top of the quilt, and then fold in an accordion style. This is also a good technique for rolling the quilt. Rolled quilts can then be placed in a pillowcase. Avoid stacking quilts on each other too much, we don’t want creases. For this reason, you’re going to unfold and refold your quilts every 3-6 months, preferably folding in different places.
The best place to store a quilt is surprisingly on a bed, in a spare or guest room. Carefully removed from any direct sunlight, gently fold the quilt and place a cotton sheet over it, then stack on or two more on it, but loosely. You’ve got it, because we don’t want creases. Keep cats away from these stored quilts if possible. Before you refold on the 6 month mark, air the quilt out for a few hours, but do so by laying the textile out on the bed or over a cotton sheet on the lawn, car, patio, or any large, flat surface. Do not air by laying over a table, chair, or laundry line, or any sharp edge. Not just because of unwanted creases, but because these can stress the fabric and damage embellishments by pulling. Quilts tend to be heavy and they’ll hurt themselves.
Wash a quilt once every 5 years for handmade quilts and perhaps once a year for store-bought, hardier quilts. Use very mild soap, like Dove dish washing liquid and wash on the delicate setting. Dry the same way you air them, avoiding the clothes dryer if possible. For drying, also place a cotton sheet on top as well as bottom. The best way to clean a quilt is to use a low-powered vacuum with a brush roller. Do not use this if there are embellishments or delicate stitching. If in doubt, or if the quilt is antique, never wash or vacuum it, but send it to a restorer for cleaning. For all quilts, do not dry clean.
If you must store your quilt on anything other than a bed, try to find some place other than your basement or your attic to store the quilt. If you would not want to be there for an extended period of time, rest assured that your quilt will not want to either. Temperature fluctuations, moisture, dust and mold…all of these things are found in basements and attics, but should not be found on quilts.
Once your quilt is safely stored, you can move on to other things. However, you should make sure you bring your quilt out to visit once in a while. It is good for the quilt to breathe and smart for you to check it for damage or bugs.