hobbykat1955

I would cut and starch appropriate sized sqs ...Then stitch each piece to one of the sqs with invisible thread...Then make a wall hanging out of it.

texasmary

Thank you all so much for the great ideas. I definitely came to the right place for answers. I am going to do some cleaning first and then a lot of planning before I make that first cut. This is intended to be a quilt for our granddaughter and not to be used in a way that would require frequent laundering. It will have beautiful needlework done mostly by her great-grandmother almost a century ago. Thanks again, and I am still open to more ideas from all you super creative people!

QuiltE

What an heirloom treasure it will be for your granddaughter!


Something else to consider .... keep any of the offcuts that do not make it into the quilt.
Some use this fabric for new embroideries.

JohnnaLeeQuilts

I, too have heirloom hankies, pillowcases, tablecloths, and some lace my daughter bought me in Venice, Italy. I would love to someday incorporate them into perhaps a wall hanging. I’m always keeping an eye out for ideas and how to sew some of the more delicate ones. Some of them will have to be cut aways because of holes & stains. Someday......

Sandygirl

Check out Kelly Cline.....she creates with. vintage linens. I am signed up fir a workshop

QuiltingHaven

The first quilt I created in 9 years ago. My grandmother had made pillowcases with embroidery for years and years. I ask them from her daughter and after she had passed. I created my first quilt with 20 pillowcases and created the most wonderful of quilt ever. I washed them all and didn't worry about small items on some on them. I created a beautiful and everyone who sees it love it and say it is really good. I measured some long, some square, and it took my first quilt which took 2 months. It was a love and remembered my grandmother would have loved this.

tranum

I’ve put some on flour sack dish towels and I enjoy them every day. They’ll most likely not stay nice but it’s ok, when they’re gone, they’re gone.

sydneybean

She is on the "Quilting Vintage!" fb group I am on. There is a lot of beautiful work there.

quiltingshorttimer

first I would recommend cleaning all of it using something like Restoration which is developed specifically for vintage fabrics--will surprise you how clean and crisp it will all look. then check out Kelly Cline and Cindy Needham's work--lots of ideas. Most projects will fuse the linens onto a backing fabric at least partially. Be sure that the fusible matches the linen used--i.e. the openness of crochet may mean using Misty Fuse to hold it place while you carefully stitch to backing fabric, while you may want to use a more permanent fusible to hold down embroidery work or cut-work.

ragamuffin

I have been buying up old, some with holes, some with spots, linen and embroidery. I have cut the large, maybe 5" hexagons out of good white fabric and I will put the white and off-white lace and embroidery on them, finish each hexagon with beads, more embroidery, etc. and then when I get them done, or as I go, I will put them together. I think I may do about 4 wall hangings, perhaps one in blue, one in pink, whatever. Somewhere I saw this done. Perhaps on pinterest. For Mother's and Grandmother's hankies, I have purchased at a yard sale, a frame about 12" wide and 30" long. Each hankie will be folded and hand tacked to the background fabric, each spread about 2" down the length. I saw it done and it was beautiful. I, too, have washed and soaked linens and laces and I find dawn dishwashing liquid is about as good as anything else. And I have them all here. Some take 2 days to have the spots disappear. I heard that the museums use a soap to wash horses for show at the fairs called Orvis. I see a few quilt shops are carrying enough for one wash. It may take 2-3 days but I have not used it yet. At the tack shop for barn animals and horses, I bought a gallon for $26. This was to be my 2019 winter project but I have fallen 3 times and now I am in therapy for balance as well as severe lower back pain. Go for it, enjoy the journey.