Pro tip: I found a roll of 1970s bookcloth in my grandfather's attic last week

It's a beautiful maroon color, but it's gotten a bit stiff and brittle. Has anyone revived old cloth like this for a rebind, maybe with a light conditioner?

3 comments

3 Comments

angelarivera1mo agoMost Upvoted

Ever try to condition something and just make it worse? I'm the reason we have that "test on a scrap" rule.

cole_flores441mo agoTop Commenter

Seriously? It's just old fabric. Try a little water on a scrap piece first, see if it even holds up. Might not be worth the hassle.

paige_owens51mo ago

I used to say the same thing about old quilts until my grandma's 1930s one got a coffee spill. A tiny bit of water on a hidden corner made the colors run like crazy. Now I test every single time with distilled water and a q-tip. That five minute check saved a family piece that would have been ruined. It's not about the fabric holding up, it's about the dyes being unstable.