Great-Aunt's lacy crochet work.

This piece was stitched around the turn of the last century, making it over 100 years old. It was made by Ken's Mother's Auntie, who lived in England. Some of her stitched items made their way to Australia in the early 20th century. This piece was badly stained, and is damaged in the centre, when the cotton has simply worn away over the years. MIL used a piece of the iron-on mending fabrics to fix it. Not sure if that would have been the correct thing to do if it was in the hands of a textile museum! But at least she managed to save it before it fell apart completely. The crocheting has a few loose threads but is generally in pretty good condition as far as I'm concerned. I soaked it in Napisan overnight and hung it out in the sun all day to dry, and I'm fairly pleased at how well it turn out. I laid a piece of coloured paper under it for the scan to enable the crochet work to be seen more clearly.