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?