Silk Needlepoint
The client approached us with a request to wash and remount the Silk Needlepoint made by her father in the early 1960s. She requested that the new mounting fit into the original game. We agreed to wash it, remount it, and get it to the framing company we use.
We escorted the Needlepoint to the framers, who removed it from the frame so that they could provide the quote for reframing with protective glass for the client.
We took it apart; we noticed that Needlepoint was in excellent condition overall. There was no damage on stitching and no loose thread ends, but it was in desperate need of deep cleaning and washing as it had been in the frame without glass in smokers’ homes for at least 30 years. Before cleaning, we tested the threads for a colour run to ensure we wouldn't damage the piece. We did a cold and hot water test on the threads. In the meantime, we removed the stitched piece from the old wooden frame held by staples. In some places, the staples, over time, turned rusty and fragile, which complicated their removal as they broke during the process. After we removed the staples, we vacuumed the whole piece several times from each side to lift the loose dirt. The vacuum had to be done before washing as the smoke residue could cause dust particles to turn into glue and stick to the thread. We covered the vacuum nozzle with the piece of fabric to see the amount of dirt. Once we finished the vacuuming, we heated the demineralised water temperature over 30 degrees Celsius to break up the smo e residue. During the first wash, we used gentle Horse shampoo to prevent the protein breakage in the threads. The water after the first wash resembles dark Ale. After the second wash, the water was still coming up dirty; this time, it resembled the cl dry cider. The water after the third looked like weak tea. After the three washes, we gave it a good rinse to remove residue as much as possible. To brighten the piece and break the yellowing of threads, we give it a purple shampoo wash. During the washing process, we noticed that the piece relaxed and skewed diagonally, which told us that the piece was stitched without being on the embroidery frame. We left it to dry flat for a few days until it was scorched.
The next step in getting the piece ready for mounting was stretching it onto the calico. Due to the unexpected skewing, it took a bit longer than usual. Once stretched, we re-tightened the frame tension for 24 hours to make the final mount easier. We mounted it on cut-to-size Dibond and took it to the framers to put it back in the original frame.
