Red dust inside vintage fur - what is it?

laughingmagpie

laughingmagpie

Registered Guest
Hey there,

A friend of mine just bought a vintage fur long vest/coat type thing - we think it's Australian possum and is probably later than the 70s. She's modifying it by removing the fabric sleeves, and while doing this she discovered this red powdery dust substance and wondered what it was.

The dust was mostly in the sleeves, collecting around the cuffs.

fur.jpg

dust-1.jpg

It feels a bit grainy but is fine, it actually smells fairly pleasant - woodsy-floral - and it tastes faintly peppery (yes, she has been admonished for doing this! :) Even if it was only a tiny tiny bit.)

The colour is the striking part, since it's a reddish-orange.

The fabric, lining, interfacing and inside of the pelts are all white or cream coloured, so it doesn't seem to be coming from anything the garment is made of (I wondered initially if it was 'devil dust' from something disintegrating in there). There is a bit of reddish staining on the inside of a couple of the pelts.

The plan is to remove the sleeves and the lining, beat the dust out of it outside, and re-line it.

Some thoughts we had:
- it's 'devil dust' from something breaking down (but what?? there's nothing red in there, and there's not a lot of padding or anything obvious)
- it's a mold
- it's plain dust dust and maybe the pelts or garment lived in a place with red rocks or something
- it's a preservative (could it actually be a spice? Like red pepper??)
- it's chemical residue left over from tanning the pelts
- they're mites
- it's something left over from cleaning the pelts before construction (apparently things like sawdust and walnut shells are used for this.)

Some of these are nicer thoughts than others ;), so we'd be interested if anyone out there has a better idea of what it is.

Thanks so much!
Jen
 
It's devil dust from the foam backing on the fabric. The foam is breaking down. Please be very careful and don't breathe it in. I normally throw things away that have devil dust as you can't stop the process from happening.
 
I have no clue but thought it was an interesting read!

I have actually read that cloves in the pocket keep silverfish out of clothing ( or a few in the corner of your closets), so I like the spice theory?

I can't wait to see if any one knows for sure!
 
Foam backing... That makes sense. I had a Corset with a padded bust, but I did not cut it open, my friend did and dust was pooring out of it. However I knew what it was from because some of the foam was left. She crushed it, slit a littel hole and beat it out.
 
Jody: that was my first thought, but the dust is this red colour, and there's nothing red inside the garment. Does it change to become red? I also don't think there's much/any foam backing in there to begin with (that's something I can confirm with my friend, but she looked for something synthetic that could be breaking down and could only find a little bit of interfacing.)

Edited to add: And I totally agree on getting rid of the lining and fabric, whatever it is, which is great because that meshes with her plan to remove all the sleeves and lining.

Jen
 
In the 70s, some fabrics were "bonded" to give them more body. This involved a very thin layer of foam that was attached to the knit backing you can see in your second photo. The foam was then bonded between the outer fabric and the knit backing fabric. It was yellow to begin with, but over the years it darkens and ends up that rusty red color you see. All devil dust I have seen is orange or red in color.
 
Jody: I've never actually seen it before, even though I've heard about it, and I always thought it would be the colour of whatever was degrading. I didn't know it could turn red like that. That's so good to know!

Jen
 
Whatever you do....don't put it in the dryer, hoping it will loosen and suck up all the bonded, sticky devil dust.
Not that I know from experience :rolleyes: but you will end up with it stuck in every crevice of your dryer and bonded to the metal drum. Almost impossible to remove!
They don't call it devil dust for nothing!:horny:
 
All foam yellows with age. If you've ever recovered a chair seat from the 50s, you'll see the same orange-y color when you expose the old foam under the upholstery.
 
This is amazing. I have seen the same thing on recovering old chairs.
Would be loads of trouble but curious if the garment could be taken apart and foam removed. Yikes.
 
If you can remove the foam, you can solve it that way....as long as you can get all the residue out of the rest of it. I find it's often embedded or attached in some way. It's shocking stuff - truly awful and I've had to throw out some really nice things that were afflicted. I blogged about it recently...

I had an awful thought recently: what if this problem hadn't been solved and all synthetic foams and fabrics would eventually break down like this? We would have an environmental nightmare on our hands.
 
Okay, this is interesting. I have a gold mesh evening bag and I could feel some crumbling inside the lining and as a result this weird grainy stuff gets all over the bag and on my hands. I've only used it once because of this. I'm not sure of its colour. Could this too be devil's dust?
 
I've lost some beauties to devil dust - If I think of it when shopping I give the fabrics a "crumple" and see if I can feel any crumbling or grit through the fabric - hate to throw away something pretty but beyond repair :-(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top