TEXTILE RESTORATION
The Textiles Department specializes in the preservation of 15th-21st century flags, samplers, tapestries, laces, quilts, coverlets, costumes,embroideries, weavings, and ethnic textiles. Following the treatment the textiles can be custom mounted, framed, placed into vitrines, or prepared for long term storage.Patience and concentration is evidenced in the delicate hand work required by this department.
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Treatment Examples:
This silk banner honoring Maria Immaculate, dating from the early 1900's, was damaged during a fire in a Church. It was coated with oily smoke and soot film, but also showed extensive structural damage. The fabric was very fragile, the combination of age and exposure to the heat from the fire, and several past attempts at repair were evident. This unique piece featured an oil on canvas painting of the Virgin Mary sewn into The Center of the front panel, of beige silk. The backside was covered in red fabric, torn in the lower left revealing the original embroidered panel. Luckily, this red cloth cover had protected the original blue back panel from much of the smoke and soot damage.
To treat the banner, each individual section had to be removed and treated as a separate piece and then reassembled. The front and back sections were carefully separated and the stitching holding canvas painting, the cap with the text 'Maria Immaculate', the hanging loops, fringe and braiding in place were removed. Each element was surface cleaned to remove the overlaying smoke and soot oils, as well as decades of dirt and environmental particulates. Old repairs and patching were also removed. The silk fabric on the front and back panels, which creased and shattered to the touch, was extremely delicate and had to be reinforced with a secondary Belgian linen canvas attached to the under side using a conservation film adhesive before the banner could be reassembled. The blue back panel was similarly reinforced with a matching blue cotton cloth. The banner was then reconstructed and the body as a whole was blind-stitched together.
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