Any piece of lacey or embroidered linen or cotton placed on the top of a shelf or mantle or coffee table, dresser. Always still called a dresser scarf. We had a lot of them and they were carefully washed and pressed. Any embroidery or lace attached, I used an old white handkerchief of my dad's as a pressing cloth. Mom liked how I did the lacey edged ones because I would use straight pins to hold the edges down from curling up. I have about 8-9 but don't use them. Thinking of using them in crazy quilt (Victorian style).