Linens all gone.

I packed up all those linens on the preceding posts, and posted most of them off today.  Jane in the U.K. and Wendy in the U.S.A. - yours have gone by airmail in an Australian Post 'tough bag' marked 'craft fabrics'.  They should arrive in a week or so.
Sylvia, your shelf border lace has been sent in a small white box.  Hope it is the right length for your shelves!
 It should arrive by Monday.
Sharon, your pile is in a plastic bag and I will give it to you when I see you at The Light Factory, unless we catch up beforehand.
Christine, I'll bring your lace pillowslip along on June 8th.  If you and Mel aren't coming to the Guild on that day, let me know and I'll drop it off to you at home.
I hope you will all post something eventually on your blogs to show me what you have done with these linens!

No restrictions on countries!

I haven't looked at my stats gadget for months, but I've been playing with the template tonight (do you think it looks better?  I thought it looked washed out before), and was looking at all the other things that can be done on blogs.  Well, the stats thingy tells me I still have a number of readers from countries other than Australia, USA and England.  So I want to let you know, dear readers in other countries - that you are also welcome to ask me to send you any of the linens in my previous seven posts.  I'm not asking for payment or postage costs - fabric is so light, postage costs are insignificant, and I just want these nice linens to find a good home.  Some of them have already been 'claimed',  so it is first in, best dressed.

The last lot of linens - white work, crochet, and tatting. First page.

These are the last of the bag of linens I was given recently.  I have loved the job of cleaning them up and pressing them ready to photograph for the blog, and give to a new loving home in some cases!  I used the mauve cloth as a background because they would have got lost on a white background, and a brighter or darker colour would have drowned them.

Some lovely examples of filet crochet here.  I may keep these myself, unless one of my readers would LOVE to own them... but NOT to cut them up - I'd never forgive that!

This small cloth is possibly a guest towel but it is on very thin fabric.  Difficult to see here, but the stitching is (I think) pulled thread work on a very fine scale.

Crocheted mat, nice but nothing out of the ordinary.

The piece below looks very old to me.  It is unfinished cutwork, on some kind of fine fabric that could be silk.  I'll be taking this to our Guild next week to see if the ladies there can shed some light on it.

Two lengths of crocheted edging which are the same length as the shelves on my kitchen wall.  I'm thinking of attaching them somehow to the shelf - I love that olde world look!

This cloth is simply beautiful - so much work has gone into it.  The colour is hard to capture - it is darker than ecru, but not as yellow as the bottom photo suggests.  If I used a flash, it looks white, so I didn't.

The last lot of linens, second page

I think the first two pieces below are known as Shadow work, done on a very fine net material. 

The rest are white work and cut work.

This one has been spoiled by a burn or mould mark in the centre.  But the rest is fine, and if it was left as it is, you could simply place a vase or something over it for display.  Otherwise it could be cut up to recycle as something else. 

The last lot of linens, third page.

Sometimes I can't tell the difference between tatting and crocheted edges; this one is a query.

This is definitely tatting.  I can think of a dozen uses for it!

Pretty crocheted edge.

White work doiley

Filet crochet insert

The stitching on this doiley is done in a thicker thread than stranded cotton - possible Perle cotton.

Small square which matches the long runner I featured in an earlier post.

Table cloth, Huckabuck guest towels

Apart from the white and ecru cloths, there is one done with coloured threads.  The stitching is exquisite, just perfect when you look at the back. (but neither of these photos are of the back)

There was one tray cloth:

And three huckabuck hand towels.  I love these old fashioned towels and usually have one or two on the towel rack in the bathroom, regardless of whether we are expecting guests!

The photo below is of an unfinished duchess set, started by Mrs H (the lady who gave me all these linens)
I saw it sticking out of a box of tapestries, and asked Mrs H about it.  She pulled it out and had a good look, then decided she would never finish it, so gave it to me, a bit surprised that I would want somebody else's unfinished work.  I think it is gorgeous; it only needs the purple background pattern and a bit of leaf and petal, then I 'll ask one of our Guild ladies to crochet around the edges for me :-)

Coloured embroidered centrepieces, larger doilies.

This doiley isn't anything out of the ordinary until...

you have a closer look at those stitches.

The next two are folded over for the photos - the shape suggests tea cosy covers?

This one has been washed with something red, as it has pink dye on it.

Two Blue Willow pieces, the top one I may keep as it is beautifully stitched.

This one has a whole in the centre and isn't much good for anything other than cutting up for craft.

Coloured embroidery doilies.

I got all these ironed as promised in the previous post.  I also had the rest of the white/ecru linens soaking overnight, and hung them out today to dry.   The day was cold and wet and even though the linens were under shelter, they didn't dry at all, so I had to bring them inside tonight, and iron them while they were still wet.  Not a bad idea actually - saves using steam to press them.  So they are now waiting to be photographed - but not tonight!
Here are the smaller doilies - most of them up for grabs, so just leave a comment here for any that you would like.

 This doiley (above) is the only one I would like to keep as the stitching is superb.

White linens.

I've washed and ironed the first batch of linens from the stack I showed in the picture here. I sorted them out into large white linens, smaller whites, large coloured embroidery cloths, smaller coloured embroidery doilies. The coloured cloths and doiles are now soaking in the laundry and will be hung out to dry tomorrow (Sunday). All going well, I will be ironing them tomorrow night, but probably won't have enough time to photograph them all and post them here, so you won't see them until Monday.
In the meantime, here is what I've cleaned up so far:

This is one of two very large cotton clothes with heavily crocheted edges.  This one has a seam down the centre, and I suspect it was originally a sheet that was worn through, and subsequently cut in half and re-sewn to make a 'new' sheet.  Some time later maybe, the crocheted edge was added to make it a bed topper for a single bed.  (I've got it hanging over the shower recess in this photo - while it is still damp, it's too big and heavy to put on the clothes horse, and I don't like to put any of my vintage linens in the electric drier.)


This is a lovely supper cloth with beautiful white stitching, and in very good condition.  No stains at all.





Another white supper cloth with gorgeous filet crochet instead of embroidery.  Also in perfect condition.




This is a pillow slip, plain cotton with a lace edge.  Rather tattered and probably not usable as a pillow case, but I wondering if any of my readers would like it in order to salvage the lace edge for a future project?




A little white doiley that is pretty but not out of the ordinary....

 until you put it on top of a coloured piece of fabric - voila!



This photo shows the drawn thread work on a very long table runner which is in good condition apart from several stains that didn't come out with Napisan.  It is such a shame, and as I was pressing it, I was wondering what could be done with it in its present condition.   I was thinking about all the patchwork table runners I've seen in craft magazines that I'd like to make one day, and I had a light bulb moment - why not use this runner as the base for a patchwork runner, filling in the centre to hide the stains, but leaving the drawn thread area as it is for a border?  What do you think?