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Through our conservation and restoration services we can help you look after your fragile, treasured textiles by preventing further damage and breathing new life into a piece.
Conservation may include gentle surface cleaning, surface couching and supporting weak areas. We can also protect very fragile areas by covering them with conservation net discreetly stitched. In line with current practice, all our conservation work is reversible.
We are also able to conserve items that are not textiles textile. The paper sampler below was covered with a layer of conservation net allowing us to re-position and contain pieces that had broken away.
For restorations, we can match original thread colours and replace missing stitches, or repair holes in the ground fabric. The RSN Studio specialises in canvas re-weaving to strengthen canvas work, such as cherished furnishings, so that they give you many more years of pleasure and continue to be passed onto the next generation.
Sometimes it is appropriate to conserve and archive an original piece and to create a reproduction. We can produce a piece in authentic stitches and the original colours (as seen on the back of an item) or in the existing faded colours. We can also re-embroider sections that may have been lost, worn away or damaged.
When the embroidery on a piece still looks in good condition but the background fabric is worn and cracking we can transfer old embroideries onto new background fabrics. We specialise in transferring ecclesiastical embroidery on vestments and altar frontals, as well as on church, livery, masonic and organisation banners, to give them a new lease of life.
Fabrics which have not been cleaned are prone to decay from mounting or storage materials such as card, wood and non-acid-free tissue paper which can lead to irreversible damage and a short life-span of the piece.
The Studio can remount work and provide acid-free and conservation grade storage solutions.
We create unique works of hand embroidery, including fashion garments, grand furnishings, vestments and altar frontals and pieces for special occasions.
We clean and repair wedding veils of any size as well as create special items such as embellished garments and ring cushions.
If you are a keen needleworker and want to make something unique we can hand-paint a canvas and create a kit for you, based on a personal design or inspired by the RSN’s extensive Design Archive.
