The projects received by the RSN Embroidery Studio are always such an eclectic mix of treasures and they never know, from one day to the next, what will be coming in for conservation and restoration.

Animals eating textiles is a constant concern around any special fabric and embroidery, but also interesting to think of them as a source of income for our Embroidery Studio as they munch their way through treasured textiles.  The expert team in the Studio are currently working on a set of VW Camper Van cushions that have been many meals for an army of moths!

The Camper Van is 50 years old and the cushions are original to the vehicle. The fabric is a lovely tweed of browns, oranges and mustard and we were able to reweave the tweed by hand, using wools from our famous Wall of Wool.
Before we were able to reweave the holes, the remaining casing from the moths had to be removed by moistening them to loosen the natural glue, allowing us to then carefully lift them straight off the tweed.  After this, we gave each cushion a gentle once over with our low suction conservation vacuum. The largest hole had been glued, fortunately with a water soluble glue, which we have loosened and removed as it was preventing us weaving into the edge.

We are very pleased with the result and sure the Camper Van will be transformed back to its former glory at a specialist car show at the end of the month.

If you have any textiles that need to be restored or conserved, please send an image to our Embroidery Studio to find out how they can help you.  Email: [email protected]