My Grandmother's Work

Today we stopped by my mother's and the subject of my grandmother's crochet
came up again. I had either decided on my own or had been led to believe that
most of it had been lost or tossed out my my mother, so I was surprised when
Mom was the one who brought it up. She said that she had a couple of
tablecloths, and asked if I would like one. Duh! She brought them out -- they
are beautiful -- and I chose the one I liked, which was the more solidly worked
(I'm not stupid, I could tell which one she wanted me to chose!) piece.
Probably too small for my table (definitely too small for my mother's) but I
could turn it sideways and use it as a runner. Mom is keeping it until we move
into our new house.

Then she mentioned that she had more of my grandmother's work in her closest,
including a set of quilt blocks that the women in her family had pieced. She
pulled out a huge cardboard box full of doilies (sp?) and other pieces. Stacks
of them! She hadn't tossed out a single thing! My jaw dropped. Tons of
beautiful pineapples -- some done with tobacco twine. Widly colorful things
which she said had been done by her father's mother...she's never even
mentioned that my great-grandmother crocheted before, but here they were.
There was a table runner with surface work on it, her own first stamped cross
stitch project, and some handmade slips. She'd been "draping" those over a
trunk for a Paula Vaughn type effect, but now I looked at them more closely.
One had some kind of the machine made lace. The other, though, had what
appeared to be handmade lace at the bottom and what looked like very fine
pulled thread bands -- I wish I had a digital camera, so I could send a shot of
it to Dianne. It was obviously completely sewn by hand, with tiny little
stitches. Amazing.

Unfortunately, my grandmother belonged to the "starch it all to death" school
and my mother has no idea of how to perserve needlework -- some of it was in
plastic bags. I told her to take it out of the plastic bags and that I'd get
some Orvis to soak it in. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to clean
these? My mother has no idea how wonderful and rare this beautiful work is!
She also had a white crocheted bedspread in a beautiful pattern with popcorns,
and she's using some "hand pieced" quilt from J C Penney's...

The "family quilt" had some kind of pieced pattern I've never seen before, in
'30's vintage fabric, also completely sewn by hand with names stem stitched on
it. Some of the fabrics were really ugly, others look absolutely perfect. My
mother requested that I at least take the blocks representing her, her mother
and her aunt and make a wall hanging of them. I know that my grandmother
pieced these blocks; and I will be so honored to finish them. Wow. That's all
I can say. I hope the quilt tops my younger sister has are half as
fascinating.

Katrina L.

Katrina,

How very fortunate your Mom saved her Mom's and other relatives
needlework and now you're the very lucky reciepient! I can imagine how
pleased your Grandmothers would be knowing their work being so highly
valued and appreciated in another generation.

You certainly have a load of treasures.....from your descriptions.....I
could almost "see" and imagine all those lovely pieces.

I think the style was to have heavily starched crocheted pieces to keep
the pieces crisp and pristine looking on the arms and backs of chairs
and spread on tables.
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

KDLark wrote:

Today we stopped by my mother's and the subject of my grandmother's crochet
came up again. I had either decided on my own or had been led to believe that
most of it had been lost or tossed out my my mother, so I was surprised when
Mom was the one who brought it up. She said that she had a couple of
tablecloths, and asked if I would like one. Duh! She brought them out -- they
are beautiful -- and I chose the one I liked, which was the more solidly worked
(I'm not stupid, I could tell which one she wanted me to chose!) piece.
Probably too small for my table (definitely too small for my mother's) but I
could turn it sideways and use it as a runner. Mom is keeping it until we move
into our new house.

Then she mentioned that she had more of my grandmother's work in her closest,
including a set of quilt blocks that the women in her family had pieced. She
pulled out a huge cardboard box full of doilies (sp?) and other pieces. Stacks
of them! She hadn't tossed out a single thing! My jaw dropped. Tons of
beautiful pineapples -- some done with tobacco twine. Widly colorful things
which she said had been done by her father's mother...she's never even
mentioned that my great-grandmother crocheted before, but here they were.
There was a table runner with surface work on it, her own first stamped cross
stitch project, and some handmade slips. She'd been "draping" those over a
trunk for a Paula Vaughn type effect, but now I looked at them more closely.
One had some kind of the machine made lace. The other, though, had what
appeared to be handmade lace at the bottom and what looked like very fine
pulled thread bands -- I wish I had a digital camera, so I could send a shot of
it to Dianne. It was obviously completely sewn by hand, with tiny little
stitches. Amazing.

Unfortunately, my grandmother belonged to the "starch it all to death" school
and my mother has no idea of how to perserve needlework -- some of it was in
plastic bags. I told her to take it out of the plastic bags and that I'd get
some Orvis to soak it in. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to clean
these? My mother has no idea how wonderful and rare this beautiful work is!
She also had a white crocheted bedspread in a beautiful pattern with popcorns,
and she's using some "hand pieced" quilt from J C Penney's...

The "family quilt" had some kind of pieced pattern I've never seen before, in
'30's vintage fabric, also completely sewn by hand with names stem stitched on
it. Some of the fabrics were really ugly, others look absolutely perfect. My
mother requested that I at least take the blocks representing her, her mother
and her aunt and make a wall hanging of them. I know that my grandmother
pieced these blocks; and I will be so honored to finish them. Wow. That's all
I can say. I hope the quilt tops my younger sister has are half as
fascinating.

Katrina L.

WHAT a treasure trove! That`s really wonderful.

Pat P

"KDLark" wrote in message
...
Today we stopped by my mother's and the subject of my grandmother's
crochet
came up again. I had either decided on my own or had been led to believe
that
most of it had been lost or tossed out my my mother, so I was surprised
when
Mom was the one who brought it up. She said that she had a couple of
tablecloths, and asked if I would like one. Duh! She brought them out --
they
are beautiful -- and I chose the one I liked, which was the more solidly
worked
(I'm not stupid, I could tell which one she wanted me to chose!) piece.
Probably too small for my table (definitely too small for my mother's) but
I
could turn it sideways and use it as a runner. Mom is keeping it until we
move
into our new house.

Then she mentioned that she had more of my grandmother's work in her
closest,
including a set of quilt blocks that the women in her family had pieced.
She
pulled out a huge cardboard box full of doilies (sp?) and other pieces.
Stacks
of them! She hadn't tossed out a single thing! My jaw dropped. Tons of
beautiful pineapples -- some done with tobacco twine. Widly colorful
things
which she said had been done by her father's mother...she's never even
mentioned that my great-grandmother crocheted before, but here they were.
There was a table runner with surface work on it, her own first stamped
cross
stitch project, and some handmade slips. She'd been "draping" those over
a
trunk for a Paula Vaughn type effect, but now I looked at them more
closely.
One had some kind of the machine made lace. The other, though, had what
appeared to be handmade lace at the bottom and what looked like very fine
pulled thread bands -- I wish I had a digital camera, so I could send a
shot of
it to Dianne. It was obviously completely sewn by hand, with tiny little
stitches. Amazing.

Unfortunately, my grandmother belonged to the "starch it all to death"
school
and my mother has no idea of how to perserve needlework -- some of it was
in
plastic bags. I told her to take it out of the plastic bags and that I'd
get
some Orvis to soak it in. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to
clean
these? My mother has no idea how wonderful and rare this beautiful work
is!
She also had a white crocheted bedspread in a beautiful pattern with
popcorns,
and she's using some "hand pieced" quilt from J C Penney's...

The "family quilt" had some kind of pieced pattern I've never seen before,
in
'30's vintage fabric, also completely sewn by hand with names stem
stitched on
it. Some of the fabrics were really ugly, others look absolutely perfect.
My
mother requested that I at least take the blocks representing her, her
mother
and her aunt and make a wall hanging of them. I know that my grandmother
pieced these blocks; and I will be so honored to finish them. Wow.
That's all
I can say. I hope the quilt tops my younger sister has are half as
fascinating.

Katrina L.

If KDLark is interested, I have a page on fabric conservation by a noted
textile art conservator, Sharon Lowengard:
http://www.heritageshoppe.com/herita...s/essay10.html

Dianne

Thank you, Diane. I have that page bookmarked to peruse at my leisure!

Katrina L.

"WOW" too

I have no suggestions as to cleaning - but storing them folded in acid-free
tissue would probably be the go. Get in contact with your local museum or
conservator and ask them they generally have leaflets or brochures
available to guide you. Come to think of it - they would probably want to
have a look

Blessings and thanks for sharing a wonderful family inheritance!
Tannia

"KDLark" wrote in message
...
Wow. That's all I can say. I hope the quilt tops my younger sister has
are half as
fascinating.

Katrina L.

Katrina, how wonderful that you're able to see and choose from these
gems!!! I also have numerous pieces from my grandmother, from
delicate crocheted doilies to hand-embroidered pillowcases - and even
bolts of vintage fabrics, some that appear to be from as far back as
the 40s and 50s and still contain the original tags!

I'm going through them slowly, setting some items aside for friends
who I know appreciate those kinds of things and others I've kept for
myself.

I noticed some information on Martha Stewart recently regarding
cleaning antique linens. Here are some links. HTH!

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jh...ent&id=tvs6855

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jh...ent&id=tvs2332



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