What fun...#4 is a decorative towel. Bought some in Italy a few years ago. Both sides are different. I love old linens. I have several like #5-- I use them to cover my parakeet cage at night. I have my old baptism gown with those almost rust like stains on it--shown on your baby clothes let me know what you use to get them out. Thanks

#2 -- also looks to be Belgian -- looks like both tatted and bobbin lace.
#5 -- small tablecloth -- maybe "bridge set" -- what is the size? Looks to be machine made but the pulled work is quite nice.
#8 -- looks to be machine made -- nice piece --probably 30's.
#12 -- Is it a piano shawl? I'd love to see the other side.

The baby clothes are lovely -- the "rust" stain are probably "acid" stains from touching wood or paper. I have had some luck gently soaking them in Biz and then carefully handwashing in Dreft. Remember old fabric becomes incredibly fragile when wet! I often use a cheese cloth-lined kitchen colander to support the fabric.

What nice finds! Love the rug!

Cathy

#4 towel for drying crystal
better known as a cup towel

#12 is for sure a piano scarf...probably made in a foreign country and made of the finest wool.

could #8 be tatted? or is that tatting?

ML

Oh My!!!!!
#1 probably is pre WW II...I remember having one or 2 like that when I was learning to enbroider ( never did learn!)
#2 is a runner or dresser scarf...appears to be battenberg...but the picture is not close enough. That stuff was popular late 1880's to up to 1920 or so.
#3 I believe is a scarf brought back from Japan...looks like the stuff brought back from WW II by the soldiers. Silk for sure.
#4 is a linen hand or face towel....the reason the design on each end is different is because it was meant to hang over the towel bar on a wash stand. The work is called "drawn work". Threads were drawn to make a web and the threads tied in a decorative way. Those little pointy embroidery scissors were useful in this work. Again 1900 or 20 years either way.
#5 a tea cloth or breakfast cloth....could also be called a luincheon cloth. linen, drawn work and I can't see the lace well enough to tell if it's hand made, but most likely machine made.
#6 a fancy apron, probably form the late 40's or early 50's when women changed to a fancy apron before the company came....often called a cocktail apron...I have an elabopratly crocheted one my grandmother made....I have never worn it!
#7....fabulous!!! Old hand done hooked rug? Oh my! They are very popular and in the right spot worth a lot!
#8 appears to be new and machine made...close up?
#9 sweet....that fabric is called lawn can't tell the age without seeing close enough to see the lace and the kind of sewing...likely 1930's.
#10 and #11...darling hats....I suspect about the turn of the century...because there is no brim or ruffle and #10 seems to have some hand done enbroidery. They could be washed very carefully using Orvis....a soap especially for antique fabrice, found in quilt shops or where quilters hang out. If you are going to wash anything email me and i will give directions...but it's a bit of bother...Cathy knows!
#12 is indeed a shawl...perhaps not for a piano but for a person....is there a fringe? And how about a picture of the back? The finest cashmere shawls were often called "wedding ring shawls" because they were so finely spun they could pass through a wedding ring....or seemed like they could. Is the shawl in good shape? Probably made in Turkey.
#13 adn #14 more modern baby dresses, probably from the early 1930's....also lawn.
What a treasure trove!!
Linda C

Wow, thanks everyone for all the information. So it's just me who doesn't know about these things! LOL

I will get some better pictures of some of the items, particularly closeups of the lace and a good picture of the back of the paisley piece.

Linda C, we have at least half a dozen of those hooked rugs, all fabric rags hooked onto a burlap background, with varying amounts of ornamentation/decoration. A few do not appear to have ever been used, and two of them show signs of light wear, but all are in great condition. They're very attractive, I think!

We have a few other aprons that are quite the mystery to me. They are made of the same gauzy fabric as the baby clothes and have smallish square bibs that go over the chest, and then the apron ties in the back. The style looks earlier, I think, than the cocktail apron in the pictures above. I've never seen aprons like them--most I've come across are more substantial (heavy cotton). I can't imagine they would have offered much protection against much of anything. Any thoughts from anyone? I'll try to get pictures soon and will post them since I understand how difficult it is to talk about something no one can see!

Aprons were not only for protection but also a sign of your job...or status. If you wore a heavy utilitarian apron, you were washing pots and pans or scrubbing the floor....a dainty apron signified you were serving tea. The bib is earlier than those little 1/2 aprons.
There is a group of women in my town who call themselves "The Happy Hookers" and are really into studying old rugs and making rugs in the old way. I need to find out someone's email address and can put you in touch with someone from that group of you would like.
Also...in further looking I determined that the paisley shawl was most likely made to be worn, and I suspece that what you are calling crewel on the reverse is just the wrong side of a jaquard woven shawl...unless there was another lining added...I am seeing red circles of stitching on the shawl....
Linda C

I have a fairly large collection of old sewing books from the turn of the century and your aprons sound similiar to some shown there. Linda is right -- Position determined what style of apron worn.

Women made "fancy" aprons for their hope chest. I own one of my great-grandmother's -- she would have married 125-130 years ago. It is a very fine cotton with hand-crocheted butterflies.

Enjoy the aprons --- its hip and cool to wear them again! I wear them over my jeans for fun!

And the hooked rugs -- all you have to do is look at ebay to know what some are worth! They are folk art at its best!

Cathy

I'd love to know more about these old rugs. Folk art is great fun!

These aprons definitely aren't for any kind of working-class woman. They're whisper thin and very dainty. Tea time or wearing when you're outside and want to keep dust off your day dress, maybe? Definitely need to get some pictures! Thanks again Linda C and Cathy!

Linda C--YES yes. The effect that looked like "crewel" to me seems to be the weaving. There's no lining, so it was meant to have only one side or to be folded to it made its own back/front.

When you refer to the red circles of stitching, what do you mean?

Here is a link that might be useful: Mine looks like this on its back side as well

In the middle of the shawl I see a couple of bright red sort of rosette looking things....what are they?

And you never ever wear an apron outside of the house...Only pesants did that!!! LOL!
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Old shawl

I loved reading all responses..I always learn so much.

Just wonderful. I love old linens and always end up keeping more than I sell. I especially love cleaning them and making them look new again. I soak with Biz, never more than 30 minutes or the stains will reset themselves. For rust I use a product called RustX. It can be harsh so put it only on the rust stain and as soon as the rust disappears rinse it out. I hand wash with Palmolive dishwashing liquid. It rinses out much faster than a product like Woolite.

betty

Old linens at least those older than 1950 or so are best washed with a non-ionic soap and rinsed in distilled water.
Orvis is a soap used by collectors of antique quilts. The proper way is to soak for days if needed and remember the rules of always supporting the piece when wet and to rinse and rinse until a piece of litmus paper indicated a nutral PH in the rinse water.
If you are looking beyond the next 10 years of the fabric's life, I sure wouldn't be washing anything in RustX, or palmolive.
Linda C

I've been using Palmolive for 20 years with no problems, still have many pieces of old linen that I have washed over and over in the Palmolive. I don't wash anything in RustX, I only use a few drops to remove rust stains and rinse immediately.

Betty

I have many many pieces of old linen I have washed over and over in Tide and dried in the dryer....but they are napkins and cloths dating from 1920 at the earliest and quite sturdy. But you can be sure I haven't washed great grandma's christening dress, nor my mother's baby dress or any other precious things in a commercial detergent. And I have for sure had a few napking "wear out"....they make great polishing cloths!
Linda C

Excuse me, didn't mean to step on any territorial toes. Just trying to be helpful in one of the areas that I do know something about. Don't know something about everything. But I do know vintage linens and clothes.

Betty

#4 ... looks like unfinished drawn work to me.

Towels for display have one plain end, one fancy end. #4 just looks unfinished to me.

No need to apologize, my toes are just fine! *grin!* But I took a 1/2 day seminar with someone who did museum textile conservation and am very aware of "delayed deterioration" due to detergent residue and even due to the clorine that is in tap water.
BUT the treatment I give heirlooms and things that are particularly fine, like bobbin lace, old Battenberg or Hardanger is very different that what I do for things like linen napkins and banquet cloths or even crocheted edged tea cloths and tatted doilies and I wouldn't dream of washing a sampler.
Linda C

#12, if in good condition, is very valuable and collectible. Probably wool challis. They are old and difficult to find in good condition due to tears and moth damage. Yours is beautiful.

Uh...how are you getting your photos into the body of your message rather than as a separate URL link??????thanks