Antique Textiles~Estate Sale

guest or tea towel with fil tire’, surface embroidery, applique’ and scalloped cutwork edge.

There are so many lovely and interesting textiles from the previous  Once-in-a-Lifetime Estate Sale  that they deserve another post.  This is part two.

But before you look further, I want to apologize for the boring layout of these beauties.  I’m struggling with Laurel’s Easter dress and don’t have much time.  So they are simply laid out, plain and simple.

The first is this towel, which was probably for the use of guests.I love all the details and embellishments.

Of the same style and quality is a yellow version.

The linen is so fine that the patio table top shows through both layers of the folded towel.

Notice the kitten Binche lace and the tiny pinstitch holes.

The peach linen towel above was probably in a children’s bathroom.  The kitten Binche “picture” lace is very childlike.

I have a lot of antique Binche lace that I will soon put up for sale.  The patterns are not all juvenile, but include elephants, fisher boys, deer, tennis players and even King Tut.  A few are shown below.

Binche lace~~1. Billy Goats Gruff, 2. tennis players, 3. deer, 4. baby chicks, 5. fisher boys, 6. roosters, 7. King Tut, 8. St. George’s dragon

Next is a pretty 16″ centerpiece.

coronation cord centerpiec

Coronation cord has fascinated me since I first saw it.  It came in several sizes and many colors.  It is simply couched in place, but renders the look of padded satin or bullion stitches.

In this close up, you can see the cord more clearly.

There was a mind boggling variety of tea napkins.  I justified my purchases because I love using them.

The one on the bottom is one of my favorites. The contrasting corner and perfectly crocheted edge just please me.  The other two are very delicately applique’d.  Aren’t they sweet?

one of four napkins that match a bridge cloth

There is a lovely bridge cloth that matches this set of 4 napkins.  It’s so pretty to use in the fall.

The monogram on this organdy cocktail napkin is very tiny.  Even the Madeira applique’ border is stitched by hand—and there were 12 in the set!

Oh dear, I have so many more to show, but once again, this post is tooooo long.  I will close with one of my favorites, a needle lace placemat.

one of a set of 6, with matching table runner

The lace features three figures, a girl/woman? and two boys/men, on each short side.

It is joined with a double hem stitch that is unfamiliar to me.

The center has Lefkara style embroidery and tiny needlelace inserts. In an earlier post  there are some pictures and info about Lefkara (scroll down to the bottom). Those of you who are serious students of needlework might enjoy this YouTube video.  It is long (12 minutes) but very informative. style embroidery and tiny needlelace inserts.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these antique textiles. Many of you, I’m sure, have equally wonderful treasures.  I’d love it if you would share pictures of them.