I have been cheered on by people around the globe, encouraging me to be brave about washing the antique Mountmellick piece that I bought. And so last night before going to bed, I put it in a bucket of cold water to steep.
Amazingly, I had the presence of mind to take some photos of it before I did this. (Amazingly, because while lying in bed this morning I realised I posted off an urgent order yesterday with no postage on it… Oh dear!)
Maybe some time today I will gather up all my courage and boil it.
The method I will use to boil the Mountmellick embroidery is a time-honoured one, used for hundreds of years in Mountmellick (and many other cultures boil white embroidery too). The fabric used for Mountmellick is very hard-wearing, and just right for the “rough” treatment of boiling.
The thing I’m concerned about in this case is the thread. It appears to be mostly stranded floss, though last night I did notice the buttonholing around the edge appears to be pearl cotton. I know that Mountmellick thread (very much like 4 ply knitting cotton) is strong and hard-wearing, but I’m not so sure about the floss.
If the bobbin lace falls apart, I don’t think I’ll care so very much, because it shouldn’t be there anyway! It should have a knitted fringe as was traditional.
Some years ago I wrote a post about boiling Mountmellick embroidery. Why not read it to acquaint yourself with the method I’ll use? The comments on the post are interesting too.
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
I’ve been reading your Montmellick adventure and am wondering if perhaps the pattern was transferred onto the fabric with a grease-based pigment, like stove blacking, or even soot. Those won’t come out no matter how hot the water.
It might be worth trying a mild dish soap on a small bit. Here in the States, Dawn original blue is recommended. Find out what wildlife rescue places in your area use to degrease birds and mammals affected by oil spills- that would be the most likely analogue to Dawn.
Thanks Kathy. That’s a great suggestion. I’m actually happy to leave it as is now. My purpose is to preserve the embroidery (in a clean state) but I don’t need it to be snowy white. 🙂 So rather than apply more chemicals to it, I’m just going to leave it now.