Storing your finished pieces

Printer Friendly

Email

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

This question was sent to us from a stitcher –

What is the best way to store our stitched needlework pieces until we decide whether to frame the work or make something out of them?

The answer to this question depends on whether the stitched piece is considered an “heirloom” or not. The time invested in the project, the materials used, and how the finished stitched piece will ultimately be used are all things to be taken into consideration. For something you truly care about, great care should be taken to store your work. Considering the time you spend is truly the most expensive thing about any project, you’ll want to use the finest materials you can afford (that’s another article!) and when the stitching is done, you’ll want to be sure your work is treated properly in storage or framing (another article to come!).

For example, if you stitch a large piece on linen with silk threads and want to ultimately frame it, you’ll want to take more care than if you stitch a quick, small, fun seasonal piece to be displayed once a year. If you will not frame the silk sampler on linen right away, it cries out to be properly stored away from light, damp, and acid. These three things are the most damaging to any textile and to avoid them is key.  Ideally, you’ll want to store the sampler in an acid free environment – not dresser drawers, plastic bags, or any other plastic containers, especially long term!

Acid free tissue paper is a great solution and fairly inexpensive at $4.00 (a package includes ten 20x30 inch sheets). Make a paper towel holder size type tube with the tissue and roll the sampler around it. Then wrap another piece of tissue around that and store. Archival acid free boxes are available in two sizes and are a good investment if you have heirloom type samplers to store or a number of things to be stored long term – we often sell them to people who stitch wedding samplers for girls long before the events. They come in two sizes and we are happy to order them for you. The small box is 14” x 11” x 2” and the large is 18” x 14” x 2”. The prices are $34.95 and $49.95, respectively.

After the above discussion, you may wonder why I personally store my threads in plastic bags and use zippered mesh bags for projects – it’s not the most correct but it is the most convenient. Since plastic takes a long time to break down the threads, I choose to use it simply for convenience. Once a piece is stitched, proper care becomes more important than convenience or cost to me if it’s an heirloom type piece. My Hawk Run Hollow and Victoria Sampler pieces are prime examples of pieces that never touched any form of plastic once they were completely stitched. Once time is added to the materials, the stitching materials are priceless and should be treated accordingly.

Everyone has to make their own decisions based on their own personalities and do what works for them. I believe knowing the rules and when to break them is a very good thing! There's no such thing as "The Stitching Police" and if there is, they will not come to get you!