Victorian Sewing Box

Sewing Box Renovation

This box belongs to a close family member and has been passed down through several generations.
Unfortunately it has suffered over the years.
All of the original tray interior has been lost (replaced with plywood dividers in different positions to originals) and one side was loose.
One tray support had come away and the other was held in with dressmakers pins.
The hinge screws had (mostly) been replaced with nails and the mother of pearl escutcheon is long gone, as is the key.

Before dismantling

Inlay detail

Corner damage. There are others but it's not severe

Escutcheon missing

Lid silk in bad condition

Lid being stripped

Tray with bits of loose wood, lock & hinges

Interior before stripping

The base

Hover over the images for a caption of the work

The tray glued up

The lid stripped of the lining

The box stripped of its lining

The remains of the felt removed from the bottom

The tray dividers being replaced

The mitre guillotine used to shape the dividers

The dividers in place

Material chosen to recover the lid interior

The padded lid insert expertly reproduced by Jennie Wood using new silk and acid free card but re-using the 29 original exquisite Passementerie buttons. The same material will be used for the lids of the tray.
Woodwork filled and touched up with stain.

Mother of Pearl ready to replace missing escutcheon

New MOP escutcheon

Top filled and scratch treated

Corner repaired

Interior stripped and tray supports glued in place

Reupholstered lid insert in silk with original buttons

Silver Dahlia lining paper
Mother of Pearl escutcheon cut and fitted.
Lock & keep polished & adjusted.
Second hand fancy stop hinges cleaned, polished and fitted.
Anti scratch velvet glued to the bottom.
Lids and inserts for three compartments made fusing the same silk as the lid interior.
Lightly sanded and several coats of French polish added to bring back the lustre.