Before and after treatment, and reverse side of mannequin
used.
Insect damage before and after treatment.
The goal of this treatment was to prepare this 1810
military coat for exhibition along with other period
artifacts at the Pompey Historical Society. One
distinguishing element of this coat is the lack of a
waist seam. The coat has a red body and arms with blue
trimming and yellow wool taps. Both the red and blue
fabrics are plain weave. The blue wool is glazed.
Scattered over the surface of the coat were small to medium
sized areas of loss from previous insect infestation. These
areas were not only visually disturbing, but also caused
the coat to be weak and vulnerable to future damage. There
were also frayed edges on the tails in need of support and
some overall surface dirt and soiling to be cleaned.
Moreover, a mount was needed to properly support the coat.
The surface of the coat was vacuumed with a low suction
vacuum with micro-brushes to remove the particulate dirt
and debris on the surface. This improved the appearance of
the coat as well as removed damaging materials from the
surface of the fabric.
Next, the insect holes of the coat were support and color
compensated with small patches secured with herringbone and
couching stitching. Red and blue fabric with similar weave
structure and color were chosen.
Following that, the frayed edges of the tails were
supported with stitching.
Finally, a mount was carved of Ethafoam to fully support
the coat. It was then padded and covered with a knit faric
and a color compensated fabric where needed. The area where
it is exposed at the neck was covered with a neutral
covered fabric. The arms were made of needle-punch batting
covered with a stockinet fabric and secured with a
herringbone stitch. Instructions on dressing and undressing
the mount were provided to ensure proper care of the coat
in the future.