Vintage Linens in Every Day Living

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I have an incredible collection of handmade, embroidered, vintage linens left to me by my great aunt. She lovingly stitched designs into each and every one of the pieces. Today, I'm sharing how I have incorporated these vintage linens into our home on a daily basis. I'm also sharing some care tips if you have these kinds of vintage linens, too. 

I've talked about my Aunt Margaret before. She was a grandmother-type figure to me. I was a later-in-life child to my parents and all of my actual grandparents passed away before I was born. Aunt Margaret was my maternal grandfather's sister and lived well into her nineties (my late teen years). She did not have children of her own, but my mother was very close to her, so she was always a part of our lives. She remains a special person I think of often. She left me a lot of keepsakes and heirlooms after her passing, including these vintage linens I'm sharing with you today.

Today is also Thrifty Style Team Day. I'm sharing lots of links from some talented friends below, as well.

Vintage Linens in Every Day Living

So many of you sweet readers have gotten me through the past ten months since my mother's unexpected passing. I am whole-heartedly grateful to you for that. I can now talk about her openly and remember her, without her untimely death always overshadowing things. And ironically, it seems through this loss, I've managed to stir up sweet feelings and memories of other family members who went on before her, especially my Aunt Margaret.

This photo sits above my desk on a shelf. I have photos of us later in her life, but this one is just my favorite. This is me pictured with Aunt Margaret. She was the most proper southern woman you'd ever meet. I never saw her not all dolled up...even at her 95th birthday party when her health had started to decline, she didn't have a hair out of place, wore her best jewelry, and donned a lovely party dress. 

Upon her passing, she left me the biggest cedar hope chest I'd ever seen (my brothers joked and called it a coffin...it truly was enormous, and filled to the brim with precious treasures and keepsakes). Since I was headed to college, my mother took care of the contents for me. I never knew this, but she actually emptied the contents into her own smaller hope chest and put the one from Aunt Margaret into storage (it was just so massive and hard to keep in their home). 

While my mom had given me most of the contents out of the box after I married (including the starter plate to my church plate collection pictured here), we both kind of forgot about all of these vintage linens. When we cleaned out my parents' home in November for my dad to sell it, I opened mom's hope chest and there were all of my linens (with a note in mom's handwriting that said..."Kristi's items from Margaret"). It was touching that they were just as she packed them up, over twenty years earlier.

And y'all, my Aunt Margaret could embroider better than anyone I know. I'm now trying to use these gorgeous, handmade vintage linens throughout our home as reminders of her here and there.  

Blue and White Vintage Placemats and Table Toppers

These gorgeous pieces are kind of incredible. And, the blue and white dishes also belonged to Aunt Margaret. I wish I could ask her if she made the dotted blue and white vintage placemats and coordinating table toppers to match her dishes...don't you think she did? I mean, they go together perfectly. I really think she made these pretties to color coordinate her table. It seems like such an Aunt Margaret thing to do. 

I keep the coordinating table topper square on our console in our living area, since it matches my blue couch. It's the perfect piece to protect the console since I'm always displaying stuff here.

Aunt Margaret's embroidery was so tidy, too. The backs of my own embroidered pieces are kind of a train wreck compared to this (the back of one of her table toppers is pictured above).

Vintage Linen Handkerchiefs

These sweet handkerchiefs melt my heart. I can't think of anyone more fitting to carry around one of these pretties but Aunt Margaret. Even the chain-stitched yellow border is perfection on these. So sweet. I am trying to figure out a neat way to display these handkerchiefs. I think I'm going to create a sweet valance out of them, but at the moment, I've plum run out of windows.

Incidentally, we found such an abundance of these hand-embroidered vintage linens at my parents' home that I didn't just keep them to myself. I gave each of my nieces and my sister-in-law several pieces, as well, so they could each have their own keepsakes. My favorite was the set of embroidered pillow cases that I gave to my niece, Kayla...they had the prettiest and most colorful daisies on the pillow case borders. I know she'll treasure them for years to come.

Vintage Dresser Scarves Turned Table Runners

I have this little drop leaf table in our sunroom that my husband and I often have coffee at. I think this dresser scarf on it makes the perfect table runner. It's the perfect size and shape. In fact, I've turned multiple dresser scarves into easy table runners. 

It has such pretty details. The pink roses make my heart go pitter patter. She also attached all of the lace borders on these pieces by hand. 

I used my new monogrammed champagne bucket in more than one of these photos...I'm slightly obsessed with it. It's from Sasha Nicholas and was my souvenir that I bought on our spring break trip to St. Louis. If you're ever there, be sure to stop by their boutique...it's a dish lover's dream.

But here in the dining room, the champagne bucket makes a great center piece on another one of these dresser scarves that I'm using as a table runner.

Those sweet little birds she embroidered on this one have completely stolen my heart. They are adorable. All of the details on this particular piece are truly stunning. I couldn't decide if it was meant for Valentine's or spring time...so we're just going with both. Again...the handmade lace border is kind of a work of art.

I saved my favorite piece for last: the above embroidered tea towel with the couple on it. I love all of the details she added to this one. I haven't figured out a good way to display it, yet. I want it in my kitchen, but I worry my people may accidentally put it into our kitchen towel rotation (or grab it in haste to clean up a spill). I may frame it in a shadow box...still thinking on it. The recipe box (and recipes) belonged to Aunt Margaret, as well. Her husband was the pastry chef at The Manhattan Cafe in San Antonio back in the day. Their recipe collection is an absolute keepsake...their creations were incredible and truly delicious. Ninety percent of the recipes in the box are desserts. Does it get any better than that? 

Vintage Linens Care Tips

I'm definitely not a professional laundress, but this is what has worked for me to care for my collection of vintage linens. Since these are all family heirlooms, I do tend to baby them quite a bit.

• First, while I have many of these pieces in place as table runners, if we're sitting down to eat an actual meal, I remove them before food and drinks hit the table. I just keep them out when we're not using the table. 
• I did ScotchGard the placemats because they are made of a heartier, thicker linen fabric. I have not ScotchGarded the other pieces since they're a lot more delicate. But, to be totally up front, we haven't actually used the placemats at an actual table setting.
• Many of these vintage linens had some spots on them when I pulled them out of storage (they were all kept in a cedar-lined hope chest).
• I hand washed them using this Vintage Linen Wash I found on Amazon. The detergent worked well and brightened the pieces and removed most of the spots. But, the detergent is heavily scented (I like scent, so that's fine with me).
• I do not put these pieces in the dryer. I allow them to air dry and then use an iron on the "silk" setting while the linen is just slightly damp.
• If your vintage linens smell musty (a few of mine did), I freshen them up with my Caldrea Linen Spray. If you come to this blog a lot, you know I use the Caldrea sprays in my sewing tutorials, too. It's a great alternative to starch and smells wonderful.
• You can grab a spray bottle of Caldrea here on Amazon (that's where I usually purchase mine).
• If you're familiar with the practice of French laundry (I recently did a lot of research on the art of French laundering...it's super fascinating), it's a great practice for vintage linens and such. 
• The Organized Home has  great overview on the art of French laundry here. Their article is a nod to Danielle Postel-Vinay's book Home Sweet Maison. I've read this book cover to cover and listened to it on Audible four times (I'm not even kidding, y'all...four times). If you're fascinated with how the French set up their homes and such, it's such a great read (or listen). Find it on Amazon here.
• I store my vintage linens the way my mother did: on empty paper towel rolls (to prevent wrinkles) in a cedar chest. She used the thinnest straight pin to hold them in place. This is probably a fairly antiquated storage method, but these things have lasted well over 50-60 years and are in great shape. So, I'm just sticking with what has worked for my family.

One of my favorite finds in my mom's cedar chest was a collection of my aunt's unfinished embroidery pieces (some of them are pictured above). They even had hoops and embroidery thread still with them. I love these so much. My goal is to finish them out one day...I know I don't stitch as well as my aunt did, but I think it would be a lovely way to honor her and her work on these pieces. All of the vintage linens I shared in today's post are just a fraction of the ones I have from Aunt Margaret. I hope to share more with you as I incorporate them into our home.

Thrifty Style Team Projects:

As I mentioned above, today is our monthly Thrifty Style Team day. Be sure to check out all of my friends' fantastic (and of course, thrifty) projects through their links below (this is a new format!):

• How to Create an Inexpensive Plate Wall from The Creekline House
• Easter Egg Craft Ideas from DIY Beautify
• Dollar Store Spring Centerpiece from The How-To Home
• DIY Mason Jar Chandelier from Hearth and Vine
• Quick and Easy Embroidery Hoop Easter Wreath from Homeroad
• Thrifted Prayer Basket with Prayer Slips from Salvage Sister and Mister
• Thrifty Spring Foyer from Redhead Can Decorate
• Thrifty and Stylish Change to the Bathroom from Duke Manor Farm
• Route 66 Beer Tote from Bliss Ranch
• Simple Thrift Store Shelf Makeover via The DIY Village
• Easy DIY String Fringe Tutorial via What Meegan Makes
• Cottage-Style Magazine Rack via Cottage at the Crossroads
• Painted Shelf Makeover via 2 Bees in a Pod

If you love vintage linens like I do, I see these pop up all the time in thrift and antique stores. They're such lovely pieces. Do you have any vintage linens of your own?