The reinstallation of the Mary Baker Eddy Peace Flag went off without a hitch on Monday, March 30th, despite President Obama being in town and the flurries that reminded us of all the snow that fell while the flag was under our care.
Each of the four mitered corners had to be aligned perfectly to meet the corners of the flag, as well as the corners of the fringe. We pinned the seams open, blind stitched with a fine curved needle, and then top stitched in two rows. Sewing through multiple layers of silk was a bit like sewing through Jell-O®! This was only slightly preferable to stitching through the thick trim around the flag and the fringe, which broke several of our larger curved needles. After we attached all of the original elements, we gently flipped the flag over and trimmed the new ivory silk borders. A dust cover made of cotton plain weave was constructed, to which we machine sewed a strip of Velcro-compatible fabric. We pinned the dust cover to the top edge of the flag and hand stitched through the machine stitching holes using straight needles. Because the ivory silk borders are semi-transparent, we made a deep turnback in the dust cover, which ended just below the top of the central flag. By mitering the turnback to follow the corner border seams, we avoided any distracting shadows. We carefully rolled the flag up for transport to the Mary Baker Eddy Library, taking special care to keep the fringe tidy and not to crease the central flag. Upon arrival, we unrolled the top edge of the flag in order to press the Velcro slat to the Velcro on the back of the flag. Library staff lifted the roll up to Camille and another staff person, who hung the slat off of the four original hooks inside the case. The flag was unfurled and small adjustments were made. The visible ends of the slat were camouflaged with beige cotton caps. Finally, the original brass rod from which the flag had hung was threaded through the silk bows and placed on the hooks.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |