Tag: Repairing old embroidery

Back to the Clock

Dear Liza,

Last November, I found Grandpa Nelson’s old clock in the garage. His mom, Mona, had embroidered it for him and his sisters when they were little, about 60 years ago. Over many years and many moves, it had gotten stained and damaged.

I decided to take a chance on repairing it. I peeled the fragile fabric off its Masonite backing and gave it a wash. The stains faded, but didn’t go away.

There was still lots to do. The delicate fabric needed to be strengthened and stabilized. Looking online, I found Hemline Iron-On Invisible Mending and ordered some. Then “craft cowardice” set in, the fear that I would mess it up, and the clock sat waiting for me to get up my nerve.

With Grandpa’s birthday coming up, I wanted to see if I could get the whole thing back together. I pulled out the iron-on repair kit and gave it a try. It worked beautifully! From the front, the repairs were barely visible and the whole thing was stronger.

I added bits of embroidery to spiff it up a bit. A stitch here and there put some of the main lines back, while still letting it show its history.

I ordered a clock mechanism from Amazon, and it went in quick and easy. Polished glass and a red ribbon made it look ready for birthday giving!

Love,

Grandma Judy

My Own Repair Shop

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