Happiness is Spring Cleaning ?

Here in New England trees are leafing and we are finally opening windows. The heady smell of lilacs is strong. Interspersed with glorious sunshine, we also have some drizzly days: my favorite kind of day to bury myself in my linen closet. If there are days that you, too, are swept indoors, consider them a chance to dabble in your linen cupboard!

Take time to refold, reshuffle or just touch your linens. One of the nicest things you can do is to attach a note onto your most cherished heirlooms. Include your name and the year you are writing the note, how you acquired it and any lore that you know. This will be so helpful in the future!

My favorite notes have read something like this: Pillowcase embroidered by Jane Smith, age 12 in 1910. She was my great grandmother. Signed Jane J. Smith, 2007. Massachusetts.

or

Coverlet given to me from Mother. It is 100 years old in 1960. (signed: Jane J Cobb, Trenton, NJ)

or (I am paraphrasing from memory)

This shawl was made by Jane Smith from wool she sheared from her own sheep, then spun and wove by hand.  She lived in XXX around 1828-1865. It came to me from Great Aunt Nell for my birthday in 1914.

you get the idea! even if you have no idea of the year it was made, try to record everything you do know, or have been told, about it. You will be especially glad later on that you took the time to do this.

If possible, use 100% cotton fiber paper and attach with a very skinny pin taking care not to pierce the middle. Attach at a seam or loop a pice of cotton string through a buttonhole or other opening. Do not attach a safety pin through lace; it invariably will tear the lace.

Most of all… enjoy!

How to Start Collecting Vintage Textiles

There are lots of ways of collecting vintage things and going about collecting.

1. to acquire and hoard them (this is ok; it protects them for future generations)

2. to display them in a “no touching” way

3. to use them (and to be prepared to sometimes use them up)

4. a combination of the above.

You can also control your acquisitions by depth of focus. Only lace? Only one type of lace? Or, even only lace from a certain part of the world. Or, take monograms, for instance! You could choose to collect monograms. Or perhaps only hand embroidered monograms. (But that leaves out many superb monograms that have been fashioned from lace instead of by sewing.) Or perhaps collect only monograms with certain letters, maybe letters you like the shapes of or, possibly, only letters that form your own monogram. Or your family’s or your cat’s!

There are also more specialized collections: some repair, reuse and recycle into other things such as crafts projects, making quilts or human or doll clothing. In an even more rarefied strata, some people put together a specific collection as a gift to posterity, hoping to find a museum (or even a grandchild) who will curate it.

Let me guide you toward the type of quality and price to pursue…. if you think you could not bear to use a $75 guest towel, then perhaps a $12 one would be a better choice. Or, you can collect tiny scraps of lace to hold on to and learn from and then, later, when you know the techniques that grab you, you can go on to buy a collar or cuffs or a lappet. Consider napkins to use, sheets to sleep in, old undies and nightgowns to wear! Or, even easier… a nice little stack of fabulous hankies or doilies… they often have many of the techniques at an affordable price and they are easier to store because they are small.

Most people will advise you to not buy items that are damaged because it is the perfect and rare ones that hold value. I believe that a damaged, but affordable, item can be a wonderful way to learn what really good techniques are so that you can familiarize yourself with them and spot them later. A scrap of 18th century toile may be tiny but affordable. An 18th century coverlet made from that toile will be priced out of reach.

Ask yourself honestly what you think you want to do with the things you are acquiring and let that be your first buying guide. Although I grant that most people who stumble on the world of antique linens do not have a plan in mind and just want that pretty thing that so attracts them. If you nodded yes to that idea, then sadly, you will probably be hooked and it won’t matter what you want to do with them. They’ll just pile up and up and up and you will be ankle deep in linens. And, then knee deep. And then, there is no going back.

Quantity vs Quality

the following question was posed to me by email today:  What would be your advice –should I save up and buy better (the best is out of my league) or buy more items?

Most advisers would tell you to buy only the best but I believe that we all have to start somewhere. There is no way to go through the process of becoming a better collector without some mistakes and bumps along the way. But, you should proceed maybe more slowly than your excitement would make you do otherwise. If you force yourself to slow down before buying many things for your collection, you will grow with it and you will be happier with it in the future.

First, invest in some books!!! I have a book list on my site and books are relativley cheap and you will learn an awful lot from just looking at photos! I used to carry a reference book with me to auctions of lace so that I could compare the item in front of me with photos of “real” lace. It took time and, of course, as a beginner, I seemed impossible to identify the lace, but the important thing was the exposure to different textiles and the looking.

Second, buy only things that “speak to you.” Chances are, even if they are not the best or the finest, your visceral response to them means that you will love them for a very long time.

So! books first and then… buy some of the items that are calling to you!

Vintage Linens in a Strained Economy

The year 2009 is an economic challenge for everyone. With so much uncertainty in the economic world, it’s hard to justify the purchase of anything nonessential!

This may not be the time to amass oodles of things to your linen closet. Or, to add to your collections… unless you are offered something superb that fits your area of interest to a tee. It’s really a perfect time to go through your linen closet to reassess, refold and rearrange the heirlooms that you are preserving.

If you have something that you are saving for a special occasion, bring it out now and put it on display! It’s time to brighten your heart by appreciating all of the things that you love. (This includes people and places as well as “things!”) Your special treasure may be too fine, too fragile or too grand to actually use but you can drape it over a door or fasten it on a wall or over a bannister where it can be seen and appreciated for its workmanship, color and age!

Let’s call this the time for living rather than acquiring! If not now… when!?

Damask and Lace at 2008 Year End

Happy New Year to Everyone!
May we all be well.

Thoughts on White Linen Damask

I have been reading White Figurated Linen Damask, from the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century, by Dr. G.T. van Ysselsteyn, published in Den Haag, 1962.

Dr. van Ysselsteyn commented that it was the expectation that, in 10 year’s time (then being the 1960s), figured damask will have disappeared even from the inherited trousseaus. This is due to: items being lost or destroyed during the wars, worn pieces being used as rags and polishing cloths and large houses haven given way to smaller ones, which have no room for the large formal dinner parties that require formal state linens. Cocktail parties do not require such large tables and quantities of enormous napkins. Styles also changed and the English and American use of placemats on bare tables became more popular everywhere.

The Author also stated that “damask requires special cleaning. It has to be cleaned with soft soap in a brass casserole, laid out on grass to be bleached and has to be pressed cold between rolls. This can still be done in the Netherlands but it is expensive and is therefore not suitable for everyday use.”

The introduction goes on to say that these linens “… are relatively cheap. Collections are rare. The material is not spectacular, photographs give a better impression than the object itself. Only those with a sound knowledge of the fabric and, with love for the hand-labor of their ancestors, want to collect the antique material.” Well said!

So, if you love and appreciate white linen damask, you are a member of a small club, indeed.

Autumn Laundry Weather

Autumn means an abundance of seeds and berries for our little bird friends but this also means that it is time to keep an eye on linens that you are drying out of doors in fine weather. Those luscious blueberries, elderberries and mulberries can make more work for you if they have been eaten by a birdy who then leaves droppings on your laundry! Ruefully rewashing them is the required solution. Live and learn.

Gorgeous August Weather is Great for Laundering Linens

The hot, dry, breezy weather here in southern New England is perfect for air drying your antique linens as well as your family’s laundry.

And, it is win win win… it’s free, it’s green and the laundry gets an outdoor smell of freshness and sunshine that can’t be duplicated!

Just bring it all inside before the thunderstorms arrive!

Antique Linens, Glorious Linens!

You love it. It speaks to you. You want it.

But how will you use this glorious antique or vintage textile or linen once you carry it home?

Dig deep, search your soul… and be truthful with yourself. (because nobody knows you as well as you do)

What is your goal? Are you a collector? Does the piece fit into or expand your collection in a meaningful way? Will it be used or do you have a place to display it? Does that even matter? If it ends up sleeping in your linen drawer or linen closet, is that okay with you? Only you know your search criteria, your storage and display concerns and the state of your piggy bank. So, consider your goals… and if you still want it, my advice is to include it in your life.

My story is that I buy the things I love, things to which I respond viscerally, even if I don’t have an immediate use for them. later, when a project comes up and I need “just the perfect thing” for it, I’ll search my linen closet and, voilá!, sometimes that perfect thing appears! I call it “going shopping in the closet.” Nothing confounds me more than when I remember the “perfect thing” that I passed up and did not buy! I always seem to need it later…
don’t you?

Uneven, blotchy color after laundering an antique textile

This is another specific problem that I have run into.

Uneven, mottled color can look like a mix of white and yellowish blotches or sometimes it can look like a mixture of blue and white. It result from the fabric surfaces not being submerged equally and the cleaning treatment not getting permeating every fiber. One would think that detergent would reach every fiber when the item is being washed in a washing machine, but it doesn’t… especially when the textile is bulky or big, such as a sheet.

To prevent this problem:

If you are starting out with a sheet or bedspread that has been stored badly and is rusty or just plain dirty, make the first wash a long soaking in your bathtub with plenty of water and plenty of swishing. (of course, I recommend using a product called “Restoration,” which is my favorite because it really works for me. Purchase from: http://www.englesideproducts.com)

Just make sure that your item has lots of space to float so that the water and the cleaning agent can permeate all the fibers.

If you already have this problem and are bothered by it, it is worth a try to solve it.

First, soak the piece in water with a little white vinegar added to remove any chemical residue.

Then, soak it well in plain water. (twice, if you want to be extra careful)

Then, soak it for a day or two in water to which a little laundry detergent and a little bleach (1 cup per bathtub, maybe? or less) has been added, making sure to stir well.

Repeat with a vinegar rinse and a clear rinse. Hopefully this will have helped!

I have had good outcomes with this method, as much as I hate to use bleach. An alternative might be to buy dye remover and follow the instructions on the box. I bought some last year but I have been too afraid to use it so far.

Love and luck!