To get a precious antique, the best alternative is professional restoration. But for tapestries with small financial value, a mild cleaning makes wrapped colors easier to spot. When selecting thread, true color matching ensures a convincing repair that mixes with Victorian-era colours, including regions of the tapestry with hues that show signs of fading or compound shade changes. Study colour schemes of the Victorian age, examining your tapestry to identify subtle shifts in hue and tone; then rewarp and reweave utilizing thread in silk, wool or cotton, applying support patches in wool or cotton Channel to solidify weak regions of the tapestry.
Cleaning to Brighten Hues
A large work table facilitates cleaning and enables an overall view. Gently apply distilled or deionized water to reveal the Victorian tapestry’s true colours, while comparing the antique colors for your room’s colour scheme. Water rehydrates threads, removing soot and dust, which may sever threads over time. Water lonely won’t eliminate the dirt accumulation; a specially formulated surfactant glue lifts stubborn soil without damaging delicate and fragile threads. Soft sponges soak up excess water in a non-abrasive manner, and after air-drying the tapestry on an apartment, ventilated surface, very gently stretch it over a tensioner or restoration framework to your mend.
Matching Colors
Scan the tapestry to recognize areas with faded colours and determine accurate colour pairs and thread types through side-by-side juxtapositions. If Smooth linen patches and thread do not match, you’ll have to wax the thread and support patches to match the Victorian tapestry’s hues. To make sure a repair that mixes with adjacent areas, procure cotton embroidery floss and screw in silk and wool which matches the colours, using it to rewarp and reweave the tapestry.
Completing the Holes
Victorian tapestries display weak areas which often seem like holes, but before threading a tapestry needle, map broken broken relays and broken threads which reveal the tapestry’s underlying warp, replacing the missing woolen warp threads by tunneling or transferring the bows with a needle. Slide the needle between the weft and warp; the stress of newly implemented warp ends allows alterations. Pass the warp ends into the tapestry’s back. On a linen service patch, a whip stitch using cotton embroidery floss closes slits. Some restorers shut slits before applying patches, but some sew onto the support spot.
Fortifying the Tapestry’s Weak Areas
Support patches in cotton or linen duck restore structural equilibrium in damaged regions by covering holes. Use a craft knife to cut foam-core squares to size. The squares hold patches in tension from the back of the tapestry as you delicately replace missing weft using tabby repairs. Rather than replicating the present weave, use between four and two strands of cotton or silk thread, stitching the rows and leaving 1/8 inch of space between rows. Most restorers cut cotton or linen backing fabric to fit the tapestry, then sew it about utilizing diamond-shaped stitches, including a strip of Velcro to hang the tapestry.