During the Second World War, silk escape maps were a vital part of a serviceman’s kit and played a pivotal role in aiding their escape, when captured or shot down in enemy terrain.  We recently had the privilege of conserving a very special escape map for the first time. Dating from 1944, this particular map belonged to our customer’s Father and aided his very own escape.

Fine silk material was used for these maps as the fabric was lightweight and therefore easy to carry.  It could also be folded up very small and tightly, so easy to conceal and wouldn’t rustle when crumpled up.  All perfect credentials when hiding from vigilant enemy guards!  Unlike paper, these maps were also protected from the elements which is essential if you are unceremoniously capsized from an escape dinghy at sea!

A typical feature of silk escape maps is that they are printed on both sides.  Our customer wanted to be able to display the map in a frame, but this would have meant that one of the sides would not be visible.  Due to the extraordinary story that accompanied the map, we suggested photographing both sides of the map. This provided us with an optimised high resolution image which accurately captured the colours and scale of the map at this current moment in time.  This digital image can be printed onto a canvas or fabric.

Once photographed we supported the delicate map onto a crisp ivory linen fabric and encased it with a layer of fine conservation net.  There were a couple of tears, which we carefully stabilised using an invisible thread and curved needle. Once secured throughout, the final stage was to mount the piece onto an acid free conservation grade mount board. The piece now hangs ln pride of place with the digital rendering of the reverse side beside it.

We feel very honoured to have been a part of the map’s journey and know that it has a long life ahead of it, now that it has been carefully restored by our expert Embroidery Studio team.

To contact our Embroidery Studio email: [email protected]

Images below: Before and Completed images, and embroiderers working on map in our Embroidery Studio