I commented on FaceBook yesterday that I'd had a 'pottering' day; doing a bit of this and that and I mentioned ironing. One friend commented about spending time ironing to the effect of...'don't do it'! lol
Now I'm not a fan of ironing and I certainly don't miss ironing the 5 heavy drill cotton shirts of husband #1 each week. Or the pleats in DDx2 's school uniforms for all those years; and I certainly don't like the crumpled look so I iron my clothes. But most of the ironing I did yesterday is ironing that gives me a great deal of pleasure.
I love old hand-embroidered tablecloths, table centres, runners and doileys and I love the process of washing them then using spray starch as I iron them.
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| The tablecloth in the foreground of this photo, I found on Ebay. The one at the back came from a Brisbane secondhand shop. |
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| Another Ebay find. In recent years, the monetry value of these items has gone up and I do set myself a limit though on what I will spend. |
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| At my wedding to DH in 2004, each of the tables were 'topped' by my collection of cloths. This was one of the cloths used, keeping with the theme of mauve/purple and blue. |
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I love the hand crocheted edges too.
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My collection started in 1972 and in a future post I'll showcase that cloth and explain all about it...it's special.
They are just beautiful Maria! I love hand embroider cloths. My grandma used to embroidered everything that she could get her hands on and she was so good at it. She can't see well enough any more, but some of her pieces are still at my uncle's house. I'm trying to get good at it too since I think it's almost a lost art.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing and for inspiring us :-)
Claud I feel lucky that I learned sewing at primary (elementary?) school and we learned a number of stitches which I can still remember how to do. (the girls did sewing and boys did cane basket weaving and marbling on paper but by the 1970s they had stopped segregating the sexes) My daughters did a little bit of stitching in high school but they weren't really interested. It's good that your family have your grandma's embroideries...they must be treasures for you!
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