Dear members of the TexConsList,

I am a student in Textile Conservation from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. This year I am working on my diploma project, the conservation of a silk dress (dated around 1840). The lining is cotton, treated with a starch finish. A main focus in conservation is the degraded silk fabric in the underarm areas because of perspiration stains. Due to the degrading effect on the silk fibre I would like to remove or reduce the perspiration residues, if possible. Has somebody experience in removing perspiration stains on silk without complete wet cleaning of the object? I have not found much literature to this topic during my research.

Thank you very much for your help,
with kind regards,

Regina Höllinger
Student from the University of Applied Arts Vienna – Department of Conservation