Don't you wish this piece could speak to you to let you know it's origin? Someone cared enough to do hexies and stitch this by hand, no doubt from what fabrics they had at the time. Working with this, you might decide you really love it just as the person who made it did??
I discovered an old quilt that had withstood years of abuse/misuse, even going through a complete roof tear-off unprotected in my attic. It was dirty, smelly and "old". Found an inscription embroidered on it that it was a wedding gift to my grandmother 125 years ago! I couldn't toss it even though it showed it's age, tears from old springs, etc and it wasn't clean enough to store with other quilts. Soooo, I chanced it. Archivists recommend bath tub laundry but here's what I did. Filled my washer with water and used powdered Arm and Hammer detergent (low sudser). Put the quilt in and smushed it down into the water and then let it sit, pressed it down several times during that time of soaking. Then I let it spin out without agitating. Rinsed the same way. Put a sheet on the grass outside and spread the quilt on top to dry. It didn't get totally dry outside that day but was able to finish it by laying it out in the house. It came out beautifully, soft and in good condition. I love it! It's not perfect but quilts of the day were not and this one has been rescued. I did put muslin on the back of some of the torn places, not for beauty but to reinforce those edges that it wouldn't tear any farther. I did a few quilting stitches trying to copy the work of the original--wow, those were little stitches by accomplished quilters who were a lot better quilters than I!