Penny, Are you holding the fabrics up and breathing through them for long
periods of time? Then I'd worry about asbestos, arsenic green, and mercury.
Otherwise the chance of you being harmed by these substances left in vintage
clothing has to be considered minute. If you are allergic to wool, this
must be H**l for someone as interested in fashions of the past as you are.
However, you know what wool looks like and feels like so there should be a
decent chance for you to avoid handling something that will give you an
allergic reaction.
I wish there were something like the Urban Legends site that could de-bunk
some of the "Napoleon died from breathing fumes from his wallpaper", or
"little children died from ingesting mercury from broken thermometers". It
is perfectly possible to swallow medical mercury and have unusually colored
stools for a while. You can play with mercury droplets and have great fun
pushing them with your bare hands to make them break up and come together.
You won't die or become ill unless you have some very strange allergy (been
there, done that, enjoyed my childhood as a pharmacist's daughter immensely.
Don't breathe the fumes though.
Asbestos is perfectly harmless unless the fibers become airborne and are
breathed. All my schools were insulated with the stuff, frequently the
ceiling tiles were made of it. We were in far more danger from burning to
death in school building fires than we were from aspects inhalation. Even
your Hasmat people will tell you that the asbestos siding on many older
(pre-1970) homes is perfectly safe until you start messing with it and
tearing it out.
Same with all the lead in paint that most of us grew up around. Don't
eat
the stuff. Don't let your kids eat the stuff. If small muches occasionally
would have killed or maimed a child, I should never have made it through
puberty, nor should most of the children of Europe and America since lead
based paints were common until fairly recently.
My point here is that there are a lot of things to worry about, but
mercury
or arsenic poisoning from occasional handling of old textiles and articles
aren't among them.
Wanda Pease
Harmful Fabrics
>
>
> It might be Paris green - (Arsenic trioxide & copper acetate)
>
> Patty
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Sharon at Collierfam.com
> Sent: Sun 10/29/2006 2:53 AM
> To: 'Historical Costume'
> Subject: RE: [h-cost] Harmful Fabrics
>
>
>
> Also, I remember something about a certain kind of green dye being
> dangerous. It was used in fabric and wallpaper, and children who ate the
> paper scraps got sick, also the people wearing a garment could get sick.
> There was something on this list a while ago about someone having an old
> dress she wanted to wear, but was told to be careful because of
> potentially
> harmful dyes.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
> Behalf Of Penny Ladnier
> Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 1:26 PM
> To: h-costume
> Subject: [h-cost] Harmful Fabrics
>
>
> I am putting online a fashion terms dictionary from 1894. I came across
> asbestos being used in fabrics. What are some of the other past
> fabrics or
> dyes that have been found to be harmful to the wearer? I am worried now
> because I am working with a large fashion collection at the university. I
> came across a bonnet lined with wool that I am allergic too. I
> broke out in
> a rash and was sneezing uncontrollably.
>
> Here is the definition from the book:
> Asbestos : A fibrous variety of a mineral substance, composed of separate
> filaments, with a silky luster. Its fibers are sometimes flexible and
> elastic, sometimes stiff and brittle, and when reduced to a
> powder are soft
> to the touch. It is incombustible, and the fine qualities have
> been spun and
> woven into gloves, shrouds, cloth for firemen's suits, lamp-wicks, roofs,
> floors and for various other fire-proofing purposes. Its feeble
> consistency
> has always has always been the chief obstacle to its general use among
> textile fabrics. It was mined in 1894 in Canada, Vermont, Virginia, South
> Carolina and on Staten Island, New York.
>
> Penny Ladnier,
> Owner, The Costume Gallery Websites
> www.costumegallery.com
> www.costumelibrary.com
> www.costumeclassroom.com
> www.costumeencyclopedia.com
>
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>
>
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>
>
>
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