So, just to prove I've really not been idly sitting
around eating bon bons and sipping on
Irish cream
(which, btw, have both been banned after an ill-fated
climb onto the bathroom scales this morning!!)....
As a little aside - the cradle itself is made of oak. My dad was helping out at the local auction house at the time and in the process of moving a very old organ from a house to the auction it fell off the back of the truck and shattered into pieces. Ooops. Dad had nothing to do with its demise, but he lucked out and got the pieces, which were turned into the cradle.
I was given a pair of pillowcases that, unfortunately, had been stored for many years in a plastic bag. Not a good idea! The fabric is now covered with little brown-ish spots (if you embiggen the picture, hopefully you can see what I mean). Now my dilemma is how to remove them without losing the wonderful stamped cross stitch pattern. Bleach is obviously not an option. The lesson here? Do not, under any circumstances, store your valued linens in any form of plastic!!
The quote today is from Ralph Waldo Emerson... "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we will not find it"
Beautiful cradle! Too bad those linens were damaged. Have you tried soaking them in Oxiclean? I have a friend in CA who often buys vintage clothing and she'll let them soak in it and it gets a lot of the stains out. Use hot water and at first just soak it for 15-20 mins then drain and repeat until the water is pretty clear. Then let is soak for a day. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you have won the battle of human verses technology. Lovely cradle. A treasure for sure.
ReplyDeleteI love it when we can hand down cherished items to another generation. Sadly, there are a lot of younger generation that don't appreciate "antiques". Too bad about the pillow case. Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you. Perhaps the owner of your LQS may have an idea.
ReplyDeletexx, Carol
I would complete the embroidery first just in case the design is lost, then try soaking in a Napisan type soaker. I have a very old map of Australia fully embroidered tablecloth that was absolutely filthy and had been used as a grease rag. I managed to get every dirty mark off it by soaking in Napisan. If the brown spots are rust,soak the spots with a little lemon juice and leave in the sun to fade them.
ReplyDeleteYou got it honest! Your desire to reuse and repurpose must have come from your father. What a nice cradle he created from what would have been scrap. Murphy's Oil Soap is the greatest stuff...good to clean dried paint from a paint brush! Now the pillowcase...try to find White Brite and soak the pillowcases. Take the wet pillowcases out onto the lawn in the early morning while there is dew on the grass. Allow them to dry in the sun.....something about the dew on the grass helps to remove the stains. You may have to do it more than once, but it works!
ReplyDeleteThe cradle is wonderful, and keeping the tradition passing it through the family is, too! Nice sewing.
ReplyDeleteoh the cradle is so very precious Mary Anne....covet!! although I have no sign of a baby to go into it :(
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful cradle! Your dad was very clever to think to save that lovely wood...and then to create such a special treasure with it. Love the cover you made and the changing pad too. So sweet. Good luck with getting those little stains out. Bet you just can't wait for that new grand baby to come. :) Happy times! xo
ReplyDelete