I visited my sister yesterday and she sent me home with this "little job". She embroidered this tablecloth about 60 years ago, and it is suffering a bit around the edges. The cloth is about 4 feet square and the floral circle about 2 feet. I thought you might be interested to see it. The first picture is the right side of the embroidery and the second is the wrong side. I kid you not! The third is a part which needs restoration. I'll have to think a bit before I start!

wow, she realy did great!!

Stunning work. A lady said to meThe proof of good embroidery, is the back looks the same as the front". well now i see what she ment.
hugs Pam.

Reversible??? Please let us see it when you are finished. That is quite a job to tackle. I am quite useless repairing things - just do not have the patience.

1 comment

by spendlove 04 Apr 2013

Repairing isn't my best skill either!

The hand work is lovely, take your time with the repair

Oh my! And we think we can do lovely things on our machines! Nothing compares to this beautiful hand work!!!!

what a lovely piece of history you girls still have in your family. Did you ever do anything like this? It always fascinates me how ladies get it so exact front and back. One would never grow tired of viewing this piece that is for sure. I love hand work and I buy bits and pieces of it at the opp shops as I value the long hours put into these sewing projects. And try to keep them alive even if the sewer has passed on. Too beautiful to have these pieces not remembered.. Show us when you finish, but do take your time in reparing it...

1 comment

by spendlove 04 Apr 2013

I never got the hang of this style of embroidery. I was always better with counted thread styles.

Very beautiful

Absolutely lovely!

Your Sister must be commended for her sewing skills, I'm not sure on how to restore the edgeing, maybe contact your closest Sewing Guild for guidance..some of the others have ideas worth thinking about, what ever you eventually decide will be worth it..look forward to seeing the repaired cloth.. thanks for sharing

Apr 3, 2013 - Just gorgeous and well worth the effort. Like you, I'd have to think long and hard before I tackled this - but I'm sure you will come up with just the right solution. I don't have a serger, so I don't know about that, but what would a FSL picot or other type edge look on the overall design?

You could serge the edge without cutting it. Just pull the knife down as your handbook tells you. That way you can go over it and cover the damaged spots. Easy solution. If it were me that's what I would do. beautiful handwork! I used to do that before I got into machine embroidery. You can do this. Roberta

a stunning work of art here.. could you surge the edge..there are some beautiful surger threads on the market..

All I can say is, "WOW".

Beautiful handwork! Would love to see what you come up with.

if you want to do it properly, you will unpick and start again......But if that's the only bit that is damaged - just mend it, and you will be the only one who sees it! Certainly gorgeous.

It is beautiful. i have a large silk piece that needs a piece of fabric woven to fit. I am not quite up for that restoration. hmmm I would probably cheat. Lol!

Your sister produced an amazing piece of work Sue. I would not like to be in your position of mending the table cloth. I am so glad that I have not been given this to mend. Have fun with it

Very beautiful work.

Vous pouvez peut-être restaurer le bord en cousant un biais tout le tour de la nappe car le fil et le tissu ont mal vieilli avec les lavages successifs.Faire un nouveau bourdon en bordure serait une erreur je pense car la nappe se déchirerait davantage.

I would either take a close satin stitch on your regular sewing machine or if you have one, set a Serger to a close stitch and go right over what is there. It would stop it from going any farther for many more years of use.

What a stunning piece of work. Congratulations to your sister on such precise hand-stitching. I am with "pennyhal" on her suggestion to check with a Sewing Guild and see if they can come up with a solution. My first thought was to trim the frayed pieces and resew the area, but upon reading your earlier response to match up the thread after so many years of use would be near nigh impossible! If you overlock/serge the edge with a machine you are going to cut off the stems and leaves on some of the design. Maybe a sacrifice of this kind would enable the cloth to no longer unravel! Good luck with whatever you do with it Sue, it's a cloth worth saving! Love and blessings Chris

Awesome .If it is just the edge can u not just go around it on your serger???Hugs

1 comment

by spendlove 04 Apr 2013

I don't have a serger!

beautiful!

This is soooo nice she did a Wonderful Job

Yes this is beautiful

Beautiful

Oh my! As much as I love what my machine does, I love hand stitching more! This is just a wonderful treasure. It looks like the edges of the fabric are simply unraveling. The whole edge will probably have to be stitched over so that the thread color is uniform. You might do some online research for hand embroidery groups and ask their advice. My first impulse would be to take my sewing machine and stitch a very tight stitch over the edge of the cloth on top of the hand stitching that is there. Possible two rows of stitching That should catch and stitch down what is unraveling and you should be able to trim the threads that are sticking out. You might consider just using a touch of Fray Check in the really bad places. The just handstitch right over the edge again to cover the repair. But I'd consult people who do repair first. Maybe the fiber arts department of the University of Nebraska? Don't they have a restoration program?

Beautiful work, and great craftmanship, especially the way the back turned out.
Your "little job" - is it buttonhole stitch? Once you start you'd probably have to do a lot more than just a litle bit.

1 comment

by spendlove 03 Apr 2013

It is and you are probably right! The first problem is to match the colour. The stitching has been washed quite a lot and it is faded.

Beautiful work. My Mother always said embroidery work was judged by the back , so looks like she should pass with flying colors. Thanks for sharing.

beautiful workmanship!

wow
it's amazing !!!
Lois W

Wonderful the way both sides look like the right side! Have fun!

Amazing work and very pretty! I enjoy seeing this.

Thank you for sharing. Works like this need to be shared and cherished.

Beautiful hand work! It reminds me of the hand work my grandmother used to do. I always asked her how she knew which side was the right side. She would smile and show me the edge of the fabric and the little knots.
You have a nice "little job" to work on. I look forward to seeing the repaired tablecloth.

1 comment

by spendlove 03 Apr 2013

No knots in this one except the bullion knots in the flower centres! They are the only stitches that are different on the back.