laundering antique lace & linen

Hey all,

My MIL just gave me several pieces of hand crocheted and filet crochet lace. Some of them are doilies. Some of them are just pieces of lace that my husband's grandmother, and great-aunt made. (lace for pillowcases, or other linens.) There are also quite a few linen tableclothes and dresser scarves. Some of those have lace, others have hand embroidery. My husband's grandmother passed away the end of last summer. This was all part of the things that were given to us from her house.

Really gorgeous stuff that I'm thrilled to have in the house. All of it will be taken care of and passed down to the children some day.

Right now, it's all BADLY in need of laundering. :( I have the normal dust, and dirt and some assorted food stains to deal with. Also I have a heavy dose of nicotine to deal with. I'm thinking (although it scares the you-know-what out of me) of taking the big hand crocheted lace tablecloth with coffee stains to the dry cleaner. (I want to get those stains out if possible, but frankly I'm loathe to trust this irreplaceable cloth in strangers' hands.)

What have you all used on things like this? What worked well for you? I want to get them bright and pretty again (I'm actually looking forward to standing at the ironing board for hours with it all. LOL) But I'm very worried about damaging them in the process. I have oxyclean, liquid All, ammonia and peroxide on hand. I have a wal-mart two minutes from my house. So I'm equipped to handle the task. ;) I just need some guidance (and a few encouraging pats on the head possibly) to get me going.

TIA!!!

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays
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Sharon, I've used Oxyclean on antique linens, including the lovely napkins that were used to mop up nearly an entire glass of red wine at a dinner party (I didn't know about til everyone went home). It works very well, and does not seem to damage the fabric. You may have to soak it a long time, though.

Another tip someone gave me that works very well on lots of different stains: Use 1/2C of each of the following: dishwasher detergent (yes, like Cascade), Tide (or any powdered detergent), and Clorox II (the powdered stuff). Add to a bucket of water, stir, then add your garment or whatever. Soak overnight.

Biz also works well, although I'm not familiar with its limitations as far as which fabrics to use it on. But a friend swears by it.

Hope this helps!

By the way, I used some linen doilies by hand tacking them to a stretched fabric, then framed it. It was very pretty. You do have to press them well, but be careful of the starch. It can eventually cause a stain.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

Karen,

Thank you very much. I'm so glad you were able to save the napkin! Some folks just don't know what paper towels were invented for, do they? I will try the oxyclean on one of them and see what that gets me. :) Then I will try your recipe on another and see how that does. :) I'm all for chemistry at home!! lol Good thing I have a few hours a day when the kids are at school, huh? Heaven knows what concoctions they would come up with! Ha!!

Thanks again! Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

I've used Biz and it works great! Just follow the directions on the box for pre soaking. I have my grandmother's crotcheted bedspread. It was terribly stained from just being folded and stuck away for so long, also being smooshed against the cedar wall of the closet had left huge globs of gunky brown stains. I filled the bathtub with water and Biz and soaked it over night. Then rinsed, washed in the tub with regular laundry soap and then rinsed and rinsed. Hauled the whole wad out to the lawn and spread it out over sheets to dry. Be carefull handeling anything of great weight while it's wet, the strain can break threads. I'd be very careful about using bleach, make sure it's not so strong that it will eat up the cotton. Those old linens can be more delicate than they look. Sometimes they will look OK before you wash them but where they have possibly been exposed to light or folded the little bit of bleach can cause those weakened spots to disintegrate.

Biz also works really well on baby clothes that have been stored and then you find those stains that you didn't think were there when you packed them away.

I took a few of the doilies I had and stretched them over moiré pillows and then hand tacked them down. Made beautiful accent pillows on my bed.

Val

Reply to
Valkyrie

Hi Sharon.

I don't know most of the brand names Karen mentions, but I do a lot of cleaning antique linen. First thing is, stick everything in the freezer overnight, to kill off any moth eggs lurking in there.

Then soak everything in soap flakes or a gentle detergent overnight. Then, I usually machine wash, with wool wash (but not Woollite) in a lingerie bag, on the wool cycle (zero degrees), air dry everything and see how I'm doing. This process gets 90 per cent of everything out and then you're left with the stains that are harder to shift.

At that point, I use a product called K2R, but I don't know what you'd go for in the US - Vanish maybe? Whatever you normally use to remove stains. Keep your washing temperatures low, as heat sets stains. Sometimes repeated soaking and washing will get stains out that have been there for years.

The lingerie bag is your best friend with old things - I even wash 1920s silk dresses in mine without any ill effects.

Items that are open-weave and heavy are best flat dried on the grass, supported by a white sheet. If they're lightweight you can just peg them on a flat rack. Linen is stronger wet than dry - it's tough stuff.

Press your items when damp rather than fully dry, between two layers of muslin to avoid scorching. And don't starch if you're going to store them, as it attracts moisture. Store them rolled, if you can, in acid-free tissue paper.

If you want to bleach, use hydrogen peroxide solution, not a chlorine bleach.

I have a large collection of these crocheted doilies and found I wasn't using them, so I sewed heavy beads around them and now use them as summer food covers - brilliant for keeping the flies off the salad when you have a barbie.

If you decide you want to incorporate the dresser scarves, etc, into bed linen, or even garments, take a look at Sew Vintage by Jennie Archer Atwood (Taunton Press). It's got lots of good ideas.

Hope you enjoy your heirlooms.

:) Trish

Reply to
Trishty

I take it this is mostly cotton? Has it been vacuumed yet (through a screen!) If so, consider just a soak in plain water, which often does most of what you need. Try to avoid bleaching (any bleaching, chlorine or peroxide or otherwise) if you can, as it damages the fabric.

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Ask your library to get you a copy of Mailand's Preserving Textiles: A Guide for the Nonspecialist (ISBN 0936260718) and Temple's Rescuing Vintage Textiles (ISBN 1878282093) for starters.

Kay

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions!

Kay, I will break out the vacuum and some old panty hose. (putting panty hose over the vacuum hose works just like vacuuming through a screen. Works really well on dry flower arrangments too!)

I tried soaking some of them in oxyclean yesterday. It worked pretty well. Still some yellowing in spots. (nicotine I think) I just happened to talk to a friend of mine who is the director of an historic home that was turned into a museum. I told her about my little project. ;) (and we both laughed and agreed that I need to live to be at least 105 to finish all my little projects!! lol) She also suggested soaking in Biz. She has another friend who sells vintage clothing. That woman uses Biz on all her vintage lace pieces. And I have, what 3? votes for it here. So I will try that. :)

I'll keep you apprised of the results. :) Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

Trish,

Thanks so much for all the storage suggestions too! I will keep all that in mind. I love the food cover idea. :) I may have to give that a whirl. (I have some other lace doilies that I bought cheap a while back -- I can't crochet like this for anything! I will try that with them. Very cool idea.)

Meant to email you back. The pictures you sent are GORGEOUS. What great work you do! :)

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

Heh heh. You might find collecting these things become a habit...;)

I'll see if the DH can do a quick digital pic of the food covers. I use the small ones for glasses and the big ones for bowls - the more pliable and open the weave, the more useful they are. Mine aren't family things, they're sent to me by my SIL who works in a charity shop in England.

Glad you like my stuff. Rachel says the bathmat is great and damp patches instantly disappear.

:) Trish

Reply to
Trishty

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