Expert: Henry Babcock - 4/9/2008

Question
my Mother just passed on and I got her needlepoint wall clock, that she stitched many years ago.  It is in dire need of cleaning and I am afraid of harming the stitches or the backing.  Thank you for any help you can give me

Answer
Anna,

How it gets cleaned really depends on how the needlepoint is mounted on/in the clock.  If the needlepoint can be removed from any backing that it's attached to, there shouldn't be much of a problem getting it cleaned.

If that is the case, The American Needlepoint Guild provides some good step-by-step instructions for cleaning and reblocking needlepoint:

http://needlepoint.org/FAQ/stitching.php#Q17

If that is not the case, I would be hard pressed to give any further advice without seeing the piece and how it's mounted.

I hope this helps,

Henry Babcock
AllExperts Needlepoint Expert