Does anyone have any creative sewing/quilting ideas to use antique napkins and tableclothes. I just came into a large quantity and with 7 grandchildren, we are into paper products for everyday use and I rarely have "dress-up" parties. I would appreciate any hints as they are too nice to just sit and rot. Thanks, Carolyn from DE
The white linen hankies and tablecloths make lovely quilts. Cut squares or rectangles or whatever that include the embroidery or cutwork, and make a crazy top with them and lace and white or antique cotton. Some blue beneath cutwork is really nice, too. I have a whole sack full of such that will make a wedding quilt for a niece, maybe.
M>
Cut work napkins and old hankies also look nice when stitched on a pillow top. I made several pillows out of solid colored fabric that coordinated with my bedspread and then top stitched down the hankies and napkins. The napkins I used were the small luncheon and/or tea size and had beautiful cut work and scalloped edges.
Val
Kitchen curtains Christmas tree skirts Debra in VA
Oh dear - I cringe at the very thought of cutting these. Many of them have lace edges or ruffles or clam shell borders, etc. I was planning on sort of "crazy quilting" them just as they are so I wouldn't lose any of those beautiful borders.
The dish towels, which aren't linen but flour sacks, I may trim down closer to the embroidery work.....but even at that, I feel like I will be "cutting" a part of my grandmothers history and it just makes me cringe.. LOL
Tina
look in the Hancock's of Peducah catalog. they sell retro fabric like that and they have some cute ideas for making them into quilts.
One project that I have been waiting to make with a similar thing - am collecting old linen for the purpose:
It's a weave type quilt. That is, tear the fabric into long strips, fold in thirds, seam or quilt them together. One side will be nice, the other have the fabric edge in the middle. Now take your strips and weave them together, leaving little square holes. Make your sandwich of top. batting, backing. Now here's the trick: you'll slide little square scraps in between the top and the second layer through the holes so that whatever's underneath doesn't show. You quilt around the holes to fix the squares in place and at the same time quilt the thing. Not my idea, passed on by word of mouth on a chance visit in a Quilt shop. We still have a lot of white linen around in Germany.
Susan
Susan in Switzerland
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