“Each to their own”? An investigation into the effect of spacing on laid-thread couching as used in textile conservation

Abstract

Laid-thread couching is a common stitched technique within textile conservation. It is used to support damaged fabrics onto a stronger support material. Due to its long-standing use, little research has been undertaken to quantify some its “known” characteristics. This project investigated the effect of varying the spacing of lines of laid-thread couching. Current literature, and a survey of practicing textile conservators, indicated that few details about laid-thread couching are published in case-studies, but a small number of in-depth research projects into stitched treatments have been undertaken in the past 10 years. Through the survey, cotton was chosen as the most appropriate thread to treat a presented “object”. Tensile-testing revealed variable characteristics between cotton threads from different thread manufacturers. Samples of the “object” were conserved with cotton thread, with different densities of laid-thread couching. Elongation and recovery from fixed-load testing was recorded over several weeks. This project found that thread choice was more important than spacing, as patterns in elongation and recovery were linked to the characteristics of cotton. Several samples were subjected to Digital Image Correlation, which demonstrated patterns of strain around the damaged and conserved areas. This technique proved useful, but requires further research before its full potential for use in textile conservation is completely realised.