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Lovely people I need your advise. I was struggling to finish a piece I was working on called BALLET by Linarte that my husband had bought it for me as my wedding present and with your encouragement I was able to complete it for our 21st wedding anniversary.YES, twenty first!!
Anyway, yesterday I noticed a dark mark on the glass so decided to break the habit of a life time and to dust it.
It wasn't dust. It was damp mold. The shower in the room above must have been leaking for some time..weeks? months? years? The wall behind the frame was damp and moldy, the frame and mount are damp and worst of all the sewing is damp and has mold.
I'm heart broken. What, if anything can I do about the sewing? It's shades of white and cream. One thread over fine linen. At the moment I have it hanging up in the conservatory to dry.
Should I wait and then see if I can dust the mold off? Should I wash it? Please someone tell me what to do.

I can only offer sympathy because if that happened to me I would have posted exactly what you have done. Getting it dry I am sure is the first step. I know that we have a lot of members with lots of knowledge about maintaining stitchwork and will have good advice for you. Keeping that someone knows what kind of cleaning will work best.

Carole

Check solutions here https://www.si.edu/mci/english/learn_mo ... e/mnm.html" target="_blank and then there is information from Nordic Needle: http://www.nordicneedle.net/guides/cleaning-tips/" target="_blank and here: http://www.cleaningexpert.co.uk/how-do- ... tains.html" target="_blank

What everyone agrees with is that you should take the fabric out of the framing immediately. There are various potential solutions after that.

Don't Panic (see, nice friendly letters...)

Do you have a local dry cleaner that specializes in wedding dress cleaning and restoration? Or a local college/university that has a fine art restoration department. If so, call them for suggestions. After all the flooding we experienced after Katrina and last summer, conservationists here told us to the molded pieces in a ziplock bag and then into the freezer to stop the spread of any more mold. Unfortunately, I don't remember seeing what we were supposed to do after that to actually remove the mold.

Oh I'm not surprised you're heartbroken. I would be too.

How about contacting the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to ask advice? With all the hundreds-of-years old embroideries, tapestries and costumes they conserve, I'm sure they know pretty much everything there is to know about cleaning delicate needlework. No harm in asking.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I feel your pain! I hope you will get on well with the suggestions above and let us know .

Oh dear I am so sorry to read about your problem and I do hope that you soon find the solution to fix it.

Oh no! What a shame. As others said, it sounds like you've taken the right first steps in getting it dry. I don't know that I'd wash it without getting advice from a professional. You'll want to make sure you get as many of the spores out as you can so that it won't come back--but you don't want to spread them around either.

If you're still looking for ideas, the best advice I can give is to look for someone with experience in textiles conservation. Colleges and universities are a great idea--but you might find the in-house conservation departments of the majority focus on books and paper materials. You might look for a university that has a graduate program in museum science, or museum studies or something similar. They might have a professor that teaches textile conservation that could help, or might be able to put you in touch with someone they know. Museums with textile collections are another good idea. If they do the work in house, they might have someone on staff that can help--or they can direct you to where they send their textiles in need of help.

Wishing you the best of luck. Please let us know how you fare.

Thanks for your advise and sympathy. I've stopped crying nor! lol
Serinde. I'm trying the advise you kindly supplied and it is making a difference.

I'm glad that it is. Like most things, there are various ways to attack problems.

My friend, who was at the Royal School of Needlework, suggested you see if you can find a copy of the National Trust manual of housekeeping -- tho if you are in the US, that might not be very helpful. She also suggested the following: freeze the embroidery (wrapped up, obviously) to kill any spores and active fungi, then air it outside if possible (sunlight is good, too, if the thread colours are stable), and then a very gentle vacuuming with a muslin secured over a hand-held nozzle end.

Please let us know how it goes!

I'm late to the party, but am very interested in the outcome. How did it go?

I'm just now seeing this - have you had any luck restoring it?

Delighted to tell you that it's nearly back to normal.
Thank you all for your advise, especially Serinde. The vacuming over muslin did the job.
Currently hanging up in the conservatory but ready for re-framing.
Note to all ... make sure you check the wall behind your frames for hidden damp patches and always always see to a leaking shower.
THANK YOU.

for a Masterpiece saved!!! This forum can solve almost any problems members have. I like to see someone will know the answer or will have a very good idea where to go to find the answer!!! I am looking forward to seeing this framed now that it is beautiful once again!

Carole

YAY!