BBC The Repair Shop expert Rebecca Bissonnet was left worried about her health when attempting to help Will Kirk with one of his repairs.
Zoe Blake-James and her grandmother Rowan entered the barn with their family fire screen heirloom – something they hoped to be repaired.
Rowan explained: “It does is adjust to whether you want to protect your legs from the heat or whether you want to protect your face from the heat, and this is one of the things that we need help with.”
Her granddaughter added: “It was passed down from my great-great-grandmother and now it's mine,” before Rowan continued: “It came to my grandmother in 1898 as a wedding present.
“She, as an old lady in her 70s, moved in to be looked after by my mother and so my huge overriding memory of my very dear grandmother is this little screen, which was always there.
“We called her Groomy but her real name was Margaret. The other thing that I remember is her book, always a book, she loved reading and Zoe is such a wonderful person to take on that mantle.”
The team managed to get the fire shade back to its original
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The family duo were hopeful that Kirk would be able to repair the item despite it looking “sad” and “very faded”.
Wishing them well, Kirk got started on repairing the fire screen and called in the help of Bissonnet due to the smoke damage that had caused the colour change in the fabric.
Taking the piece of fabric off of Kirk’s hand, Bissonnet got started and revealed: “This is embroidery. Tapestry is woven, and these are individual stitches.
“So, I’ve done the surface cleaning of the embroidery and this is looking so much brighter already but actually, the fibres are really dry and brittle, so I’ve been weighing up the pros and cons of washing.
Rebecca Bissonnet was left with stained hands after the repair
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“I am going to wash the embroidery but it does always make me quite nervous. I am using de-ionised water.
“I can see I have some colour run which I was half expecting but didn’t really want to happen so instead of leaving it in the water I am immediately going to put it into some fresh water and hopefully the initial red colour will get washed out.”
After having multiple attempts at getting the colour out, Amanda Middleditch was left concerned about the state of Bissonnet's hands and asked: “What's happened?”
“I had a bit of dye bleeding on the object I am working on. Bit of colour run,” she laughed, leaving her co-star to add: “Did it cause you a problem?”
Laughing, Bissonnet admitted: “Well, only to my health I think! It just really worried me, but its ok now.”
Despite the worry, Bissonnet and Kirk managed to get the repair done and left Rowan in shock when she walked back into the barn.
The guest was left stunned by their work
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She exclaimed: “Oh, my goodness! Look at that, isn’t that beautiful! Where has the repair gone? Absolutely wonderful!
“That is just lovely isn’t it, you have made me so happy thank you! Thank you very much indeed!”
