What to Use to Remove "Browning" from Old Lace
 

Found this bag of old lace while organizing my sewing room following a move. Most of it is very very delicate so the remedy must be gentle. Some of it tatted circles, just a scrap of lace, some crocheted circles, several tatted doilies approximately 10" round. All is too beautiful not to display.

My thought right now is to brighten same, iron and then handstitch like a crazy patch to a dark background and then make a wallhanging. However, I am open to any suggestions.

Any ideas for a gentle brightener and/or use of this lace? Thanks.

I've heard the same as Tartan. Cindy Needham, who specializes in vintage linen quilts, recommends it.

thats it and it works well.

A doll collector I knew uses denture tablets while they were fussing.

I've heard about buttermilk and or lemon juice but I would do a lot of research. Would be nice to see before and after pictures.

Ive heard lemon juice with a short soak then lay in the sun.( difficult in UK we don't get any)

Oxiclean with the hottest water you can get, works for me.

Non-chlorine (all fabric) bleach, soak for a long time. This gets re-packaged as Great-Aunt Prissy's Vintage Linen Cleaner or whatever, and sold for 5 times the price, but start out with the basic formula and save money!

On my great grandmothers lace I used Biz but I don't think they make it anymore. It worked wonderfully and the lace is still fine so there was no damage.
Lynda

I bought a small package of this product online at Walmart but haven't had a chance to try it out.

placing the lace on green grass in bright sunshine. It worked on my grandmothers bedspread that is crochet. Good luck

Think outside the box. If you really love the lace, a way to display it would be to arrange the lace on the top of a coffee table and put a piece of glass over the top. I purchased a large, distressed coffee table and two end tables about 10 years ago and ordered glass tops with beveled edges for all three. It looked super nice and I got a lot of compliments on them. I think the glass cost $75 for the end tables and $110 for the coffee table. I have seen black and white family photos displayed this way and it is visually pleasing and interesting.

If you use this method make sure you have it pinned in place. I have used this method and a container so the doily/lace piece can lay flat. Don't pin into the threads just between the threads so it doesn't shrink.

Remember sometimes it's the agitation that cause damage not the product. I would start with a soak in Dawn dish washing liquid with just a up and down motion to wash and rinse, roll up in a towel to remove as much water as possible.

Cindy Needham's advice is top notch and works wonderfully well. I ruined some precious lace with some of those other things before I wised up and consulted Cindy's website.

I use Stain Solver for tough stains but haven't tried it on lace.

My mom took old doiles and put them in frames with other fabrics (mostly velvets) as backing. They made very cute pictures. She did that with old evening purses, too. I still have one hanging in my powder room.

MIL and I used 20-Mule Team Borax (Borateam) to clean brown out of hand crocheted table cloth she inherited from her MIL. We soaked overnight, rinsed, soaked again with clean mix, I think 3 times total. Came out beautifully removing about 75 years of dry cleaning solvent and cigarette smoke. Thread was originally a light ivory and by the time we were done it was back to it's original color. I see Borateam is still sold in WalMart.

added: We did all the cleaning in the bath tub, not in the washer, but when finished we dried on the no-heat setting of the electric dryer until almost dry, then laid on plastic on the floor to finish blocking and drying.

I respect (and envy) the work that Cindy Needham does and inclined to go her route. I have some Orvus on hand and will try a few pieces in a soak. And I will go to Cindy's site and see if I can find a resource for the Tartan that has been suggested. Thanks all of you for your suggestions.

(Incidentally, my coffee table is nothing but an old painted wash bench. Under glass is out of the question but a lovely idea.)

Used it and it works well. I was able to reuse the water with the product in it to clean several antique quilts. That's not recommended, but hey! It was worth the try. This product that is worth the money. There was no damage to the quilts. Some were stitched in the late 1930's.

As a point of awareness- Biz is alive & well. I use & have used it for all of my heirloom sewing & all hand crocheted clothing items made for me by my mom & that I made for other girls. Available in Walmart.
sewverybusy1

I used RetroClean on a vintage dresser scarf I bought at an antique shop recently. I thought the crocheted lace was taupe and after soaking in the sun with RC, found out it was light blue. The fabric went from smokers yellow to a linen white. WOW. This stuff is amazing. I ordered it online.

Biz is still available. It works great . Article may need to soak for days. It does not harm fabric. Our local textile museum uses it on antique linens .