I have a bunch of vintage silks that look like they were crammed into a plastic bag forty years ago. What is the best way to straighten them out to once again look beautiful.

Iron them, specifically, STEAM iron them. Use the setting for SILK.

It is a good idea to have duplicate silks for each trick you do. That way you are set for two or more shows in a day. You won’t worry about trying to find a place between shows to iron the silks. I keep each set in a zip lock bag.

If you store them so that they aren't "pressed" with heavy props on top of them, they should only need a bit of "touching up" as needed.

When I was working full time on the road, I would freshen them with steam iron shortly before the tour began.

Each set of silks (color change, Serpentine, ailk penetration thru mike stand, and, 20th Century were in separate open top boxes, in the prop case. They were simply dropped in their box after use. Doing 13-15 shows a week, they got plenty of exercise! Very occasionally, in very humid conditions, they would need a 'touch up' with an iron. I washed my hands well, before every show. The two silks in the color change thru hand, could last two seasons! Serpentine and mike stand penetration, would last indefinitely. 20th C. would last about 3 seasons.

I always carried spares. I carried them in gallon size zip loc plastic bags.

I used polyester "silks" for knot bits like the "Slydini Knots".

For family night shows, I carried a 6' Rice Dragon, and a "string" of 12" "half silks' that were produced from a ghost tube, or a Merv Taylor Tambourine, The hard props, the silks, and tissue paper, etc. traveled in their own small prop case. (The silks were in a "shoe box" so the hard props would not crush them.) For the tambourine, the case also carried a STAR "Simplex" aluminum table.

The only silk trick that needed "set up" was the "standard" 20th Century, which needed about 30 seconds, and the color change silk, which needed a maximum of 20 seconds.

My entire 45 minute program could be set to start in 3 minutes or less. I never "unpacked". I worked out of the case. Each prop was removed, the trick performed, and the prop was place back in ITS place in the case. When the show was over, I put the last prop used in the case, removed the gold "flash cloth" from the case lid, closed the case, and, left for the next school.

I "did" a "tripe" and "keester" act.

I was paid to do a show! I wasn't paid to unpack, set up, and repack PROPS! (You can read about it in my book, "DICK OSLUND -- ROAD SCHOLAR")

Once you get the silks straightened out, get a roller shade, open it out and lay the silks on it. Roll the shade back up loosely. I don't know how many silks you have so just don't over crowd them in the roller. You may need several. An alternate storage would to get a paper roll, (Christmas is a good time to get a long roller from Christmas wrap), roll the silks around the tube. You might even want to wrap a piece of Christmas paper around them and put a couple of loos fitting rubber bands around it to hold in place.

A drop of fabric softener in rinse water (if you are washing them), will help get rid of the static. Then Iron them to square them up and bring out the shine.

Some one told me to gently wash in cold water, then put wet silks on a mirror to dry: no wrinkles!