I'd try spot cleaning with a rag and very mild soap as the colors may run. Good luck.

DH uses his own designs when doing needlepoints and cross stitch.

Years ago, he had mistakenly used a red pen that ran when drawing the design. I gave it in to be framed and the framers used water when stretching it. Needless to say, the pen ran and damaged the needlepoint. No matter what we tried, there is still some pink on the fabric.

The point is that I'd be very careful about using any water on it since you don't know what is underneath. Being antique, I would doubt that there would be something that could run underneath but I'd be careful.

Can you easily remove the needle work and take it in to be dry cleaned? That might be the safest bet since you don't know if the colors will run, but that might change the value of the piece. I know nothing about antiques, so it might be a good idea to check with an expert.

A few years ago while moving my Mother to an apt., an old sampler became water damaged due to a leak in the roof of the rented van. I figured it was ruined anyway, so I took it out of the frame, laid it on a deep cookie sheet and soaked in it in water with Oxy-Clean. You would not believe how beautiful it turned out. I hoped my Mom wouldn't notice, but she kept saying that the light must be better in her new apt. since the sampler looked brand new! Finally had to admit what I had done.

Oxy clean was taking a huge chance!
Vacuum it really well, work some corn meal into it and vacuum that out.....repeat until the corn meal comes clean....
Can't possibly hurt anything!...just kale sure you don't get it wet while it's full of corn meal!!
Linda C

Go to Target, purchase "Folex". It's in an unsightly white bottle with purple letters. I would advertise for this company if they asked! It's made for carpets but I use it on my suede couches, shoes, rugs, clothes, curtains, car interiors, etc. So far it has cleaned every bit of anything that was considered a "mistake"; wine, clay, blood, mustard, everything. It contains no harsh chemicals. You spray on, rub around with finger tips, then blot up with a paper towel. So far, nothing has faded. The only downside - I spot cleaned my Berber carpet - we actually had to have a cleaning crew come in and do an entire house cleaning because we had "new carpet" in all the spots I cleaned. It made the rest of the house look dingy!

Happy Cleaning,

I buy Folex by the gallon and use it in a spray bottle to spot laundry stains too.