Wells and Mendip Museum Historical Embroidered Samplers Case study.

These pieces came to us to prepare them for use in an upcoming exhibition for Wells and Mendip Museum. They needed a light clean with a conservation vacuum to loosen any ingrained dirt. 

We then mounted them onto the calico, as they didn’t have enough free edge to allow it to be mounted for framing, and the available edges were too delicate to take the mounting process.  We st ched them onto an unbleached calico using uncoloured monofilament. By w rking from centre to edge in vertical, horizontal, and diagonal directions, we could stabilise the pieces enough for mounting.

When mounting, we have two options: an acid-free conservation board or, for larger pieces, an aluminium mount board with a foam filler. Thi is then covered in calico to prevent contact with the under materials. Finally, he pieces are pin-stretched over the board to hold them flat and herringboned to the boards. This also ans that at any time, the whole process can be reversed with zero harm to the original piece.

Our museum-trained framer then framed them under conservation glass to prevent any further light damage. The pieces were also sealed to prevent moths or other bugs from gaining entry and eating a light snack.

The clients were pleased with the pieces, and the exhibition was a complete success.

“The work completed is outstanding, and we are so glad to see these pieces out of storage. We will be reopening the museum, including the sampler gallery, shortly, but the display looks great as it is. We will introduce the two that you are working on as and when we are able.”