Rebekah 1886 Sampler
The client approached us in 2022 to restore the old family cross-stitch sampler dated back to 1826. The client informed us that their family member used glue to mount a piece of cardboard to stabilise it. Unfortunately, the glue caused more damage than protection. Our in tial assessment showed that the glue caused fabric discolouration and thread disintegration. We agr d with the client to remove it from the cardboard, wash it, remove the glue as much as possible, and restitch the most visible areas.
We started the restoration process by assessing the thread for colour fasting. We also took some samples of the glue residue and found out that, lucky for us, the glue was water-based and wouldn’t cause any damage during the washing process.
As the piece is over 100 years old, we used demineralised water and horse shampoo for at least 24 hours to dissolve the glue residue and leftover cardboard. After 4 hours, we rinsed the sampler and gave it one more wash and a final rinse. It was a sunny summer day, so we left it for natural sun bleaching and drying.
Once the sampler was completely dry, we assessed how much of the stitching would be required. We con acted the client to provide more information about the text, as some parts are still unreadable. Unfortunately, the client couldn’t provide any information as none of the relatives knew what the text said. With t is information, we restored the most visible parts.
In the next step in sampler restoration, we tried to colour-match the original threads to current shades of DMC-stranded cotton. As some of the current shades of DMC are brighter, we had to dirty them up by dying them in weak tea and coffee to match the shade as accurately as possible.
Before starting restitching the sampler we framed up the cotton calico and catching stitched the sampler with monofil thread. We rich d the damaged areas through the calicoweekhis w y, our wills would be completely removable.
Once the sampler was fully restored, we mounted it on the Dibond board for further framing by the client.
