Estate Sale for You~Preview

Things have been incredibly hectic around here for the past few weeks, as evidenced by my infrequent blog posts.  One result of all this busy-ness is a soon to be posted on-line estate sale.

So many of you expressed interest in the sales I have attended.  I hope you might find a treasure or two in this estate, like perhaps this pair of beautifully crocheted twin bed covers.

This is happening because of my association with a friend who does estate sales.  She is a certified appraiser for a variety of categories for household goods–furniture, china, silver, and more.  However, she is not knowledgeable about textiles, and so calls on me for advice.

Mind you, I have never presented myself as an authority in this area.  But I know a little more than Pat, so she often consults me.  I was called in for this sale and was overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the textiles.

For some time now, she has been working on the estate of an elderly lady whose home is jam packed–with furniture and books, with multiple sets of beautiful china, with quilts and bed linens, and enough table linens to stock a sizable fine restaurant.  From finely embroidered napkins to tablecloths, to placemats, to an exquisite organdy and teneriffe lace runner, this lady had it all.

This is a photo of the runner before I soaked it.  It is spectacular now.  I’ll post an updated photo later.

She never married and lived in this circa 1920 house her entire life.

Reportedly, many of the textiles were her mother’s.  With no heirs, everything was left to an elderly friend who lives too far away to even pick up a few mementos.

So, eager to sell off as many pieces as possible before the big sale, my friend will be offering many of the textiles for sale here on my blog in advance of the big on-site sale.

The items are not yet priced, but I expect this will be finished by next week.   The items shown here are just a preview.

The crocheted coverlets are just spectacular.  This one is reported to be unfinished, but it surely is beautiful as is.

Sadly, many of the linens were stored in the attic and appear to have lain folded for many, many years.  Those are badly stained at the crease and may never come clean.

Still, with careful cutting, they would be lovely additions to crazy quilt projects like pillows or quilts.  The handwork is really beautiful.

But others are in perfect condition, such as the quilts.  I love this yellow beauty.

It, too, has a charming hand embroidered cover at the top.

Here is yet another quilt.

So do you feel like you have scouted out a great estate sale?  Later, I’ll post prices, more photos and more details of the DeLand, Florida, sale in case you can attend.  It is tentatively scheduled for June 8.

I wouldn’t call this lady a hoarder, but she certainly never threw anything away.  Still, I was reminded of another lady whose sale I blogged about.  Remember the shadow work Christmas collar post?   The story of the lace used on that collar is reposted below.

LACE STORY

I have a friend who does estate sales.  She is an expert on china, silver, furniture and most items in a home, but has no expertise in textiles.  So she often calls for my help pricing such items.

A few years ago, she called with a most urgent SOS.  She was to dispose of the contents of a sewing hoarder’s home.  The vintage 1930-40 house was well-kept and appeared to be orderly, filled with all manner of antiques, from kitchenware to furnishings.

But she was shocked to find every dresser drawer, every closet, boxes under the beds and cupboards filled with fabric, zippers, buttons, patterns, heirloom laces and more.  She didn’t know where to begin.

The next morning I met her at the house.  She was standing on the front porch shaking her head.  “Oh—My—Gosh!!!”  she said.  “I just went upstairs to the attic.  It is packed to the ceiling with sewing stuff!”  Her nightmare was my dream come true!

There were literally thousands and thousands of yards of fabric–cottons folded neatly, silks and decorator fabrics rolled on tubes, wools in plastic zipper bags and more.  So much more.

There were so many interesting facets of this lady’s compulsion.  For one, every piece of fabric had a small paper label hand sewn into the selvage, with the a variety of details.

 

The laces were unmarked, but beautiful without exception.  She had excellent taste.

Then I asked about her sewing machine, of which there was no sign.  And here is the most bizarre part of the story…….

The 84 year old woman did not sew.  But she always intended to learn. Wow.

I bought this lace for my granddaughter’s Christmas collar

as well as a few other pieces, but it was no bargain. My job was to put a fair price on the textiles and I did that.  But I loved this lace and had to have it.  Payment for my time was having first choice of the goods and shopping before the hoards rushed in early the next morning.  I was well compensated.

Most of the folded yardage was stacked on and under tables in a bedroom, sold for $2 per brown paper grocery sack.  I brought home several bags of cotton gingham check in colors I’d never seen before–grape, gold, brown and more.   More than 200 bags were sold and still a truck came from Goodwill to cart off the rest.

I think about that woman every time I pull out some gingham and, of course, when I used this lace.  And I wonder.