Dear Liza,
When we moved to Portland six years ago, we moved a lot of things that we don’t use. Family heirlooms and sentimental items fill boxes and boxes, and that’s okay. We are not just Day-to-day creatures. We carry bits of our past with us.
One of these historical bits is this embroidered clock from the early 1960s. Here is a picture of what it looked like when it was brand new, in a photo from eBay where you can buy it for $125 !! But we’re going to try and keep the original.
Grandpa Nelson’s mother Mona made it from a Good Housekeeping kit when he was little, so it is about 60 years old. It has been dirty and is getting worse as the years go by.
I asked him if it was okay for me to try and salvage it, and he was willing. So I am giving it a go. I took the glass door off and unscrewed the case so I could get to the fabric. It was glued to a piece of masonite. Ugh.
I pulled out an Xacto knife and started gently peeling back the very old, frail fabric. I focused on keeping the knots attached so the embroidery would stay intact. This caused some tears, sadly, both around the edges and near the clock face. I’m not sure what how to repair them, but I will figure it out.
Now that it is free of the Masonite, I need to figure out how to stabilize the delicate fabric so I can wash it without damaging it. I am doing lots of looking on YouTube and crafty sites to figure this out.
I will let you know how this all works out, and show you too!
Love,
GrandmaJudy
Dear Liza 