You will have spent time and effort creating a beautiful piece of work that is unique to you and you shouldn’t be afraid to use and enjoy it. If you’ve secured all the ends well, and chosen the right fabric then there shouldn’t be any reason for it to be damaged through normal everyday use.
Dust and strong sunlight are the main enemies that may attack your work. These days good quality threads such as DMC or Anchor are colourfast, and may be machine washed at high temperatures, but nevertheless strong sunlight will eventually bleach out some of the colour whilst dust will rot the threads. It’s really important therefore that you keep your embroidered work clean.
Don’t tumble dry your work though as the crinkles may never come out – just smooth it out and hang it up to dry. Press your work while it’s still just damp, placing it face down on a folded towel to prevent the stitches from flattening. You may find that the embroidery threads don’t dry as quickly as the fabric, so lay it flat after pressing and leave until completely dry.
The best way to store embroidered items that aren’t being used is to lay it flat in a drawer, wrapped in acid-free tissue paper. Don’t use plastic bags as they attract dust and the textiles won’t be able to “breathe.”
Have you got any other tips to care for your work? If so, please leave them in the comments below. We’d love to know!
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I always roll my work round cardboard tubes. Lay the work inbetween two layers of acid free tissue or old cotton sheet and roll round the tube. (I have been known to join kitchen roll tubes to get the length I require)
Julie xxxxxxx
That’s a great tip, thanks for sharing Julie! xx