I've been concentrating on getting more background stitched these last two nights. As you can see from the photograph, I've worked more rows in tent stitch around the perimeter of the design and have done quite a bit of stitching around the geisha's head where the burn hole is.
Looking objectively at the background and scorch marks, you can see that despite my repair to the underlying canvas, the damaged areas are still visible. I can probably hide the corner brown area that peeks out from behind the stitches by putting beading on top of the canvas but the hole just above and to the right of the ears is going to have to be hidden by trim in the finishing. Despite my best efforts, the burned canvas threads break and peek out (particularly under the tent stitches which are distorted by the breaks) and the hole, although compensated for by the woven thread, is a bit lumpy.
It is possible that Summer Louise (the finisher) will just turn back the upper right hand corner of the canvas along the diagonal line of split pavilion stitches to hide the damaged areas. This will give her a straight line to work with and that missing corner might be a nice place for a monogram or a fancy button. We'll see what she thinks of this idea after Christmas when this will be made up.
I've discovered an unintended side effect of spritzing the canvas with water before stitching. This really does soften the burned areas and makes them less brittle so I can stitch over them without breaking the burned canvas threads, but it also softenes the patch of 18 count canvas underneath and makes it fray around the edges. The original piece stuck out past the edge of the canvas design a quarter inch but now that it is fringing itself, the real stitchable edge of the patch is at the tent stitches and some of them are not even because of that. If you plan to patch a canvas, you need to make the patch at least an inch bigger around all sides than the damaged area. A half inch or less is just not going to be stable.
I thought about hemming the edge of the patch or covering it with hem tape or just doing a zigzag stitch around the sides of the patch but all these will add bulk and be difficult to stitch through, so just having a larger patch and ignoring the fraying is the best way to go in my opinion.
I've also found that dampening the burned areas does make them softer and more easily stitched over but I think that once they dry, they are even more brittle. Since I am no expert in restoring canvas, I am following common sense and instinct in repairing this canvas. Sometimes they lead me astray. I'd encourage anyone with a canvas they want to salvage to try using a good sized piece of 18 count silk gauze on top of any hole with a patch of an equally good sized piece of 18 count mono canvas (or whatever size the original canvas was) on the bottom for stability. I think that would avoid the lumpy appearance I have just above the ears, although it does not do anything to solve the problem of burned canvas threads breaking.
I might have done well to completely remove all the burned areas, enlarging the hole and then patching it. For the scorched areas, painting a matching color on top of the brown area should hide the brown color that shows between the threads. I am not convinced that painting a scorch mark will be good in the long run, but in the short run it might hide the mark.
However one goes about repairing a canvas like this, a full coverage stitch will be needed on the repaired area.
Hope all my musings on fixing a damaged area helps someone with a repair, whether it is a cut thread, chemical damage or a burn from a magnifier in the sunshine.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
