Kilt storage

[Hamish]

All this talk of "cedar chests"! Where on earth do you find them? Is it an "American" thing? I have never seen them for sale, or even advertised, here in the United Kingdom. My Grandmother used to have a family chest at the foot of her bed, in which treasured fabrics were stored but that, as I recall, was made of Oak. I wonder what happened to it!

I have hung my kilts, for as long as I can remember, on the wooden bar clamp-style hangers with absolutely no ill effects. The trouble is that they are now not so easily found and, with an ever increasing Kollection, .......!

I roll my kilts only when transporting them in suitcases.

One thing I will NOT do is to hang any kilt from the two loops provided by traditional kiltmakers, which was what I was advised to do when I first had my own kilt back in 1950. These just allow the waistband to sag horrendously with the result that the pleats twist out of shape as they hang below it.

[Iolaus]

As I recall, cedar wood keeps moths out of wool fabrics. You can also get cedar "donuts" to slip over hanger hooks, and cedar balls and blocks to set in your drawers with your socks and such. Perhaps your grandmother's family chest was lined with cedar; that's a very common practice.

[MacConnachie]

It's actually the cedar oil that's the irritant or repulsing agent for moths. I had some info somewhere on what it does to them. The problem with the blocks and hanger rings, I've found, is that when they're out in the open air, the oil dissipates. I've noticed that if you sand or scrape the blocks, it brings that distinctive cedar scent back, and that such will make them effective for awhile longer.

I can't tolerate the smell of mothballs, so avoid their use whenever possible. However, millions of folks have been using mothballs effectively for decades.

[Shotdir]

If you use cedar blocks or bricks or even have a cedar lined closet, after about a year, the cedar stops giving off the aromatics.

Turns out the oils evaporate from the very top layer of the wood and repel the little buggers, and it's the moth larvae (worms) that eat the material not the moth. So if you see moths you probably already have holes in something.

You need to sand the surface all over to let the oils come out from the next layer of wood. You only have to remove a few of the cells from the top layer of the tree each time, so the wood lasts a long time.


Hamish,
My great grandmothers chest from Ireland (one of the very few pieces they brought over) was lined with cedar strips on the inside. The outside was some kind of ugly dark wood. She kept her wedding dress and some table cloths in it, as well as my GGF's uniform.
Maybe that's what your family had.

Cedar is still expensive and back then it was even more expensive!