At ZTC we give your precious personal collections and family heirlooms as much care and attention as museum objects.
Cleaning and repairing family items such as christening robes, samplers, wedding gowns and vintage costume as well as providing suitable storage and display will help ensure their longevity for future generations of your family to enjoy.
Family christening robe
In 2019 the Wesson family from Kent entrusted us with the alteration and cleaning of their family christening robe; once cleaned the delicate lace front to the gown was supported onto new cotton lawn and the tiny original sleeves were carefully altered to fit the next generation of Wesson babies. After the ceremony the robe was brought back to us to be washed again and packed in an acid free box with tissue to await the next family christening.
Detail of bodice after repair 
Four generations 
Baby Amalie in her christening robe
‘Zenzie and her assistant who worked on my family christening gown did an amazing job. The gown looked better than I had ever seen it and the stitching and attention to detail was exquisite. The gown is now able to be used for many more generations, which would not have been the case had I not given it to Zenzie to repair.’
Overshoot quilt
London based clients wanted to display their much loved 19th Century North Amercian Overshot coverlet to remind them of their time based in the USA. The beautiful five metre square wool and cotton bed cover was wet cleaned and minimally repaired and then mounted in half over a padded form to reduce the large display area required to more domestic proportions. Close consultation with the client ensured they were thrilled with the conservation grade fabric covered board and bespoke frame made in our workshop.
Wet cleaning the coverlet 
Drying in progress 
Mounted, framed and in situ
‘Thanks to all of you for a great piece of work. We love the results, and it was particularly nice to get photos of the process’.
Family wedding gown
We have recently completed the conservation of a late 1940’s wedding gown for a Brighton client that has been transformed by our wet cleaning process. The artificial silk gown made, during rationing soon after WWII, was discoloured and stained at the hem and on many of the self covered buttons. It has been wonderful to be able to return it to the shiny, lustrous gown we can see in the hand coloured wedding photographs and reduce the previously dominant stains so successfully.
Jessie Watson 
Stained cuffs and buttons 
Stained hemline
dav 
Buttons after treatment 
‘This has been an amazing transformation to the family wedding dress, it is so lovely to see it in all of its original glory. Many thanks to Zenzie and her team for their care and attention to this project, we are so pleased with the result.’