Now that you have taken the plunge and purchased some fantastic vintage wool sweaters, a few well constructed Harris tweed suits, a winter season’s worth of warm cashmere scarves and hats and that sleek vintage pure cashmere overcoat, you need to know how to care for them and the steps for preventing the moths from making a buffet of your fabulous vintage finds. Here are ten easy steps to caring for your fine woolens.

• Woolens do not require washing, after each wear, unlike cottons and synthetic fabrics that absorb dirt and odors. Be willing to use febreeze to refresh your woolens and/or  spot clean them where necessary giving attention to necklines, hemlines, armpits where stains and/or odors are likely to accumulate. Spot clean your wool garment with warm water and woolite and allow to air-dry flat. Be careful ONLY to pat clean your garment, particularly if it is sweater so as to keep your garment from losing shape and the fibers from matting or felting.
• If spot cleaning your garment is not sufficient, prepare a cold-water wash with woolite or a very gentle heavily diluted soap. A natural castile soap is best, but make sure to dilute it. You do not want to scrub or agitate your wool and adding soap to the fiber will increase the likelihood of it felting so make sure to saturate the garment in plenty of cold water.
• Do not rub the wool against itself; friction, soap and heat are wool enemies causing the fibers to felt. Just simply soaking and rinsing over and over again, works wonders on woolen.
• Lay your garment flat and allow it to air dry to its original shape.
• If you purchase vintage woolens, be sure to dry-clean them before storing them with your other woolens. You want to be careful not to infest your clothes. Dry-cleaning your new purchases will kill the eggs that may be present in your newly purchased garments. While, dry cleaning is not the best option, it is one of the fastest ways to kill moth larvae and prevent an infestation.
• Set up sticky traps in all of your closets containing your wool garment.
• Moths are attracted to dirt, so vacuum your closet regularly and make sure to, even, wipe down closet walls with cedar oil, thyme oil or Willert Cedar Moth Spray.  Discard, the vacuum bag immediately and towels used for cleaning the closet. Be sure to tie them in a tightly sealed plastic bag before discarding. You may purchase a hand held vacuum just for your wool clothing. Clean your garments by hand and allow them to air dry. After they are thoroughly dry  than  dry vac them. When you are finished, make sure to clean your hand vac thoroughly .
• When possible, store your woolens in pre-treated airtight containers to prevent moth infestation.
• Clean your woolens before storing them away during the warmer seasons.
• For added protection, remove cleaned woolens during the hottest day of the season and allow them to soak up the sun than place them back into treated air tight bags or containers. Moth larvae cannot withstand heat.

These few tips will  help your vintage finds last another life time!!!!