Rescuing Vintage Cross Stitch

Last month I got a lovely little collection of cross stitch pieces in my lot of fabric for my friend's quilting class. She kindly allowed me to keep them, so first I decided to clean and frame the two samplers that came in the collection. Cleaning cross stitch can be tricky, but there is a process -- and please note, this is my own process. I am not an expert, and for any valuable vintage needlework you should consult a professional cleaner or conservator.

This particular piece has a lot of red embroidery thread. I will guess it's DMC brand, which tends to be colorfast. However, in my experience red almost always bleeds, and I'm not positive about the brand of thread, so it would be risky to water-wash it (to test the thread, snip a tiny piece from the tails on the back side, weet the snippet, and place it on a white paper towel to dry. If it bleeds, it will leave a color mark on the towel.) Luckily this piece also has no patchy stains or foxing.

I first tape down the piece to my cutting mat and remove all the surface dirt and dust using my cordless handheld vaccuum, which has very gentle suction. You can rubber-band a piece of mesh over the end of a regular vaccuum hose to keep it from damaging a needlework piece.

I then press the piece from the back side using a pressing cloth, with the steam on.

Finally I go over the front of the piece with a lint remover, which usually gets whatever the vaccuum didn't.

After trimming and framing, here's the final result.

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