SA1794 Posted August 15, 2018 Share #1 Posted August 15, 2018 To begin, I am not a patch guy but will pickup anything that is in the OD green family or related. So I picked up a lightly soiled ww2 era patch and thought I would give it a light cleaning. Imagine my surprise when the patch dissolved and tore apart. Can someone explain why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted August 15, 2018 Share #2 Posted August 15, 2018 Dry rot. That patch was doomed from the start. -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA1794 Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted August 16, 2018 Thanks Ski. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefighter Posted September 3, 2018 Share #4 Posted September 3, 2018 Any chance you had a before & after pictures? Sorry for your loss. What patch was it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Finn Posted September 3, 2018 Share #5 Posted September 3, 2018 What do you consider a "light" cleaning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted September 3, 2018 Share #6 Posted September 3, 2018 Was it a twill patch? I don't know guys, curious, would a Fully Embroidered one fall to pieces like this after a washing by hand??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Scott Posted November 21, 2018 Share #7 Posted November 21, 2018 I just saw this post and thought I would tell this little story. About 30 years ago I bought a patch album out of California with some killer insignia in it.One of the patches was an Alamo Scout in mint condition.I paid 4000.00 for the album and the guy shipped it to me.I opened the album and looked through it with my mouth watering.I started to remove the patches and low and behold they fell apart in my hand although they looked perfect.I went through the first four pages and by page three and four the slightest tug destroyed the patch.The Alamo Scout was on page five and I removed it holding my breath.I gave it the gentlest of tugs and it held together.I found out from the seller it had been stored in an attic storage area for thirty years in the high heat of the California summers.Ski is right dry rot is the enemy of patches and high temps are the worst thing for causing severe dry rot.I was lucky that the heat had not penetrated to page five or the best patch of the bunch would have been dust.After that when I bought an patches over the phone I had the seller tug on the patches on the first pages of any patch album just to make sure.Scotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gomorgan Posted November 21, 2018 Share #8 Posted November 21, 2018 Thanks Bill that is good information to have, I've found attic found WWI uniforms like that also in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocsfollowme Posted November 21, 2018 Share #9 Posted November 21, 2018 At one of my quilt shows I ran into someone that had a PhD in textiles. I wonder if we could reach out to a museum about this. Could a humidifier add moisture back to the patch to allow the fibers to gain strength again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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