Thread: How to clean old assuit?

I just scored a piece of OLD ivory assuit, with a few rust stains. Any suggestions?

You MUST post pictures : )

Hi, I have a collection of antic assuit and I just hand wash in cold water with gentle soap, for example Woolite. Rinse very well then gently squeeze out the water. To dry lay it flat on towels. I like to change the towel and turn the assuit over in an hour to two. If you have pets be very careful that they don't get a hold of it. My good friend left her on a chair and when she came back it was shredded.,f::

This fabric is pretty strong. When I dye them I use Ritz, using the boiling water method.

When you store them it is best to gather up into a loose ball or drop into a little pile and put into an acid free cloth bag. Every 6 months or so I go back and gently ball it up again and restore. Folding the fabric over and over on the same fold will weaken the fibers.

Have fun!

The mesh is 100% cotton. Rust stains are pretty difficult to get out of cotton items in my experience.

I have washed and dyed antique assuit with no problems. I did it in a bucket, rinsed in the kitchen sink, and blotted dry with towels.

My opinion is that the ivory stuff looks better dyed a deep jewel color. That would be one way to hide the rust stains. I highly recommend Procion dyes for cotton, available from Dharma Trading. They are so much better than rit, and something like assuit deserves the very best.

If there is any tarnish on the assiut, the Rit dye and the salt bath can bring the silver back to life. I had a piece of gorgeous assiut I bought at Rakassah for a steal because it had a huge green tarnished area on the metal. After boiling in black Rit dye, the metal was sparkling clean and looked brand new.

Amity, make sure the cotton is strong around the rust stains and that there isn't any shattering before you dye it. Otherwise, you may have holes where there once was rust. There are rust removal products on the market that you can try, but I would be worried that they would react with the metal in the assiut.

Thanks everyone!

I had this exact same question Amity!
I have an Ivory asuit shawl from the turn of the entury and now I want to dye it. But what color....

I've toyed with that too Eshta. To dye it or it cut it up into a bra and belt...