Recently, a client came to us as the owner of a charming vendor stool covered in a canvaswork embroidery that had originally been stitched by her mother and was a treasured piece of furniture.

Sadly, the stool was positioned beside an open fire, and a burning ember landed on the embroidery. Fortunately, wool does not burn quickly, but the ember had burnt a small hole in the embroidery, right at the edge of the piece where the embroidery met the frame of the stool.

The client had a local upholsterer carefully remove the canvaswork embroidery from the stool, enabling them to book an appointment and bring in their treasured piece. If a client is unable to visit the Studio, pieces can also be sent via tracked, signed-for post. Once we received the piece, we were able to assess the damage by reviewing the stability of the area around the hole and then set about the repair.

Firstly, we removed the charred edges of the wool and canvas. There was a little discolouration on the canvas fabric itself, but the fabric remained strong enough to be stitched into.

We matched the linen thread of the canvas as closely as possible to the original. As this was quite a thick canvas, we doubled up the chosen thread to match the original thickness and ensure the space was filled, providing a good base for the canvaswork stitches. We rewove the hole using the surrounding areas as anchor points.

Once the hole had been rewoven, we replaced the missing stitches, including some of the background colour, with the remainder forming part of the blue border. The embroidery had originally been worked in Appletons Crewel Wool, so we searched our wall of wools to find the correct shades. We were able to blend the colours successfully and, once the repair was complete, the stool top was returned to the upholsterer to be refitted to the vendor stool.

Do you have a you have a treasured family piece in need to restoration?

Get in touch with the RSN Embroidery Studio Team or visit the website today for bespoke embroidery commissions, restoration and conservation services.