Garment Bag Fabric & Moths

M

Mad Catter

Registered Guest
I found a few moths in the area where I have my vintage clothing stored and am in a sewing frenzy making garment bags. My question is concerning synthetic fabric bags. I'm putting all the silks and wools etc in cotton bags made from sheets but I have a ton of synthetic fabric and am wondering if there is a type of clothing that I can store in this fabric.
Some of the clothing is rayon and synthetic fabrics like acetate satin, nylon organza. Can I safely use the synthetic fabric on these to keep dust off or are there interactions I should be careful about? I have a ton of fabric for making sheer curtains so I was hoping I could use some of that for certain garments. I've made 50 or so bags and have a lot more to make :-(

Also what else exists for moth control? I hear horror stories about moth ball scent. I don't know if the two I saw are the type to worry about but it freaked me out a bit! I've got all the furs covered and the silk velvets but there's a full night's work ahead of me to cover the rest.

Thanks for any tips and tricks, suggestions, sympathies..lol
 
Ah, moths: you have my sympathies. Yes, you can use the synthetic fabric/garment bags to keep the dust of synthetic fabrics but the moths won't want them: they like natural fibres, or more particularly, the proteins in them.

I really recommend that you clean out the whole area, because you need to ensure there are no more moths or eggs: so wash the cupboards out and vacuum to get the eggs from all the nooks and crannies. Freeze your clothes if you can, for at least a week or if that's not possible, go over them thoroughly and clean/remove all signs of infestations. And monitor the situation: moths like to be left alone and work fairly slowly but if you keep an eye on things you'll know if you've got rid of them. Hope so. Awful creatures.
 
Thanks Nicole!
Sadly there's no chance of being able to dry-clean or freeze the clothing. Most of it is 1800s or silk and wool plus some costumes that are huge layered affairs with crinolines etc. Some of the capes are so large, I wouldn't be able to squeeze even one into my freezer. There's about 400 pieces and the only place I have to store them is an unfinished basement (kept at 55% humidity). They have sheets draped over them but that was it for protection before my bag-making frenzy.

I inspected the pieces that I put into bags and so far I haven't found any eggs or damage but I have a hand vacuum that will do the trick just in case there's anything too small to see. The wool items have all been inspected and the oldest pieces are temporarily stored in plastic totes until I finish the rest of the bags today. I ran out of fabric for the cotton bags so I'll be raiding the thrift shops for cotton sheets today.

I found Safer's brand clothing moth lure-traps online but they're only available in the US from what I can see so I guess I'll be vacuuming like a madwoman until I can find a supplier. And sewing bags and more bags, lol. I'm hoping the two moths I saw were ones that followed me downstairs from outside. Good wake-up call either way.

Thanks for the tip about synthetic bags on the rayons etc. Those will definitely wait until all the protein-based fabrics are protected.
 
I have used pheromone traps from this company before--but, I'm not sure if they will ship to where you are? (Not sure where you are.)
https://store.insectslimited.com/moths-traps-lures

Good luck! I try not to kill bugs, in general, but clothing moths are a big exception!!
 
Mad Catter said:
Thanks for the tip about synthetic bags on the rayons etc. Those will definitely wait until all the protein-based fabrics are protected.
Click to expand...

I should add that rayons are a reconstituted, man-made fibre (made from wood and cotton pulps), not a synthetic so are best treated as per natural fibres. Sadly I can report that moths quite like eating them, unlike nylons and polyesters (synthetics, made from coal and petroleum).
 
Thanks for the advice Nicole, Lynne and Amy! I always learn something new when I check in.
Didn't realize Rayon was plant based so I'll be retesting a few bits of fabric :-o My burn tests would have been way off since I didn't realize that. Thank you.

On a bright note, good news! The moths are "pantry moths" and they eat grains etc or specifically in my case, birdseed type foods in buckets in the basement. I bought the pantry moth traps AND the clothing moth traps just in case. I read that they are a good way to detect any clothing moths that might decide to show up. If the pantry moths got in, I could possibly even bring in clothing moths on other antique items so I'll be doing the freeze technique for collars, gloves and purses since I can fit them into my freezer. The clothing will get a good vacuum before it goes into the area. One good moth scare is enough for one lifetime.

Fabulous links Lynne, thank you. Unfortunately, I'm not in any position to be able to afford garment bags like that but maybe someday. The CCI link is great! I'm lucky enough to live in the same city (Kingston) where our university has a textile conservation degree program so some of the pieces that I received already damaged are going to be donated to the students to learn from. Also, maybe I'll stick with cotton and use the synthetic material for halloween costumes.

As always, thanks for all your fabulous advice. Back to sewing bags..lol
 
Oh yes, I know about pantry moths... have had those a couple of time. They like warm weather and yes, grains and that kind of thing and they can literally fly in your window - and find something they like to munch on. Usually most active in spring/summer. I use simple pheromone traps that are food-safe in my kitchen and been fine every since. Besides... keep things like cereals or flour in closed containers, and put a steel nail in there (my mother's tip - seems to work!).
 
Hi Karin, I hadn't heard of the nail trick before but many of the horticulture tricks like that are based on science so maybe there's something to it. I tell my customers to plant a few small bags of steel nails under their tulip trees. It prevents chlorosis since that tree is very susceptible to low iron. They rust and feed the roots.
Maybe pantry moths don't like the scent of ores?
 
No idea. My mom swears by it, she probably has that from her my grandma. Anything that keeps cereal products from coming "alive". I'm single and I don't always used these things up very quickly, though I try to buy smaller packets. We had a neighbour when I was small who had a huge problem that way. His wife left him, he didn't look to much after what he had in his kitchen cupboards, and sooner or later it was all crawling... nervous emoti I guess that left an impression with me.
 
The thought of critters in my clothing certainly left me with an impression so I know how you feel! Working on bag #80-ish..I even washed out the bird seed buckets that had the moths. Tight fitting lids from now on. Yuck.
 
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