I cannot count my day complete
'Til needle, thread and fabric meet.
~Author Unknown

Sharing a common thread with those who love the art of hand embroidery

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Restoring tossed and forgotten linens..........is my passion!.............

along with hand embroidery of course.........
About a year and a half ago, I found this wonderful vintage luncheon tablecloth

with cute vintage dish designs on all corners........two of the designs....... very faded

and the whole cloth..........full of holes. 
However, I fell in love with it.......rescued it from its dusty corner

 and embroidered the first motif..........then got lost on another project 

until now..........I embroidered each set of dishes in a different color
 I also worked eyelets on the scalloped part of the design to make it look like real lace.
After I completed the embroidery, 


(before)
I started working on each hole and rip

You can do this as well, if you have a piece you don't want to toss away.

(after--back side)
First, find matching fabric and cut a square a little larger than the hole. Baste it into place on the backside of damaged piece. 


(after.....front side)
then with matching thread, turn over to front side of damaged piece and  work stitches over and over the hole until it is completely sewn.
Sew the patch on the backside  with a blind hem stitch to secure.

The same can be done even if the holes run through the motif as it was here in the photo above. 
This was quite a large amount of holes, but I simply basted a patch of fabric on the backside of the tablecloth and design, 

 on the front side, I then patched the holes and worked the embroidery over the holes as well ............

 as you can see..........or cant see.........the patching is barely noticeable.
The tablecloth had such a pretty hand crocheted edging.........


and now the tablecloth is finished and looks beautiful. You can see a slight shadow of the patching underneath........but the tablecloth has been restored to be reused.
So worth the effort........don't you think?

13 comments:

lil red hen said...

Another great example of your wonderful talent! I'm sure it will be loved, all over again.

Ana Love Craft said...

Absolutely amazing work! Beautiful embroideries! Thanks for sharing great tips!
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Hugs and love from Portugal,
Ana Love Craft
www.lovecraft2012.blogspot.com

Auntea said...

Makes my heart so happy to see a restored table cloth!

Hindustanka said...

It is beautiful! I first thought the embroidered parts were big, but when you showed the full picture, they appeared small. Lovely work done by you! It is great to save such pretty things from being destroyed!

Shami Immanuel said...

Creatively reused. Great. Love the crocheted edging too.

Sherri Farley said...

That's just amazing!

Bev said...

I always love your work...and thank you for giving me recipe for stains.... it worked great on my quilt!

Karen said...

I really love old linens, too, and these are so beautiful after you fixed them so nicely! The dishes are adorable, I think my favorite is the yellow set.

Gina E. said...

This cloth is just darling! I think I have the transfers for those designs somewhere in my stash, or maybe not exactly the same, but similar. You are very patient, fixing up the holes; I would have cut the embroidered pieces away from the rest of the cloth, and recycled them in a CQ or other project that required stitchery embellishing! Can I send you some of my damaged cloths to fix? Just kidding - I am sure you have enough of your own to do!

letslearnembroidery said...

Thanks for the ideas to restore old fabric.The embroidery is as usual beautiful.

The Tea Lady's Journal said...

Thank you for seeing the possibilities and taking the time to restore this wonderful linen tablecloth. I love your stitching choice of making all four corners different. The stitching to add the lace work adds so much. And the repairs to the holes is wonderful too.

Pamela Kellogg said...

Awesome tutorial Kathleen! And I love those little tea babies!!!

janice15 said...

So sweet, you do such a wonderful job repairing embroidering, lovely w/love Janice