Estate sales and household auctions.
No one wants them....but me....and now you!

Well Lindac, nice to meet a fellow linen lover lol. And Thank You

No, wait! I love them, too! And, I use them.

I agree that Estate Sales are a great place to find them.

I have found some beautiful pieces at local Thrift Stores. Seems like the younger generation doesn't want them, use them, or like them! Seems like they donate all the linens, etc. when their parents/grandparent pass on.

Yeah....and in my experience recently the thrift stores put all the linins in the recycle bin because they won't sell.

I like them too! And use them. Nothing like a well used and loved damask napkin!

Okay, as long as you're here, what does one do with yellowed old napkins to make them presentable? Yep, I have grandma's table linens and nope I don't use 'em!

Lol...Fori, can you tell me what fabric they are made of? If they are 100% cotton or linen you could boil wash them, let me know if they are all cotton and if your interested in the boil wash and I'll give you directions. But I need to know the fabric type.

I just soak in an oxygen bleach like Snowy or Oxyclean or Clorox II...or the one sold at the Dollar Store.
I put about 5 gallons of water in a bucket, add about 1/2 cup or more of the oxygen bleach....stir and add the linens....and soak for several days
If you don't plan on using your washer for a couple of days, you can do it there.....and just spin out. Works as well as boiling for me....and sure is easier!
Oh and amazon carries Snowy Bleach.

Thanks...I'll have to dig them out and see if I can tell what they are. What's this "iron" thing you're referring to? Is that for branding your table cloth? :P

I also use Orvus Equine Soap for soaking linens.

Well there is a special "linen brander"...it's triangle shaped and you heat it up burning hot, then you wet your linens down and press that thing against the piece of cloth, trying to find the exact moment when the cloth has steamed out all the moisture but has not yet been marked by the "linen brander". If that brander leaves so much as a hint of a mark, you have to start all over again, re wash the linen, soak in oxygen bleach and then try again with the "brander".
Once you get the hang of it it's not so hard.

I adore the old linens! I'm in the process of making a "curtain" out of old handkerchiefs in our guest bathroom. Have to pick up some more clips....

I LOVE old table cloths and use them all the time. The 1930-50 flowered ones. I bought quite a few on ebay but I don't know if they're still "popular" there. Once in a while I used to find one at a garage sale but not any more. I think, around here, all of grandma's stuff has gone to the dump. I hardly ever find anything at a garage sale that I want.

Funny....It all seems to depend on what you remember. I can't stand those flower printed things from the 30's and 40's. They were on our everyday table...place mats were a very new thing and perhaps not acceptable? And those flowered cloths were always on the table, and got more and more faded and just dreary! My grandmother's kitchen table was covered in oil cloth and that was even more tacky.
Then sometime around 1944 or 45....my mother got place mats. they were woven of that stuff like we used to weave pot holders from....only in long strips. And the mats were in various colors, like her Fiesta ware!
My grandmother used Quaker Lace on her diningroom table. It always had a lace cloth on it and a bowl and candlesticks....not necarrily with candles, just the holders.
My mother thought Quaker Lace was tacky for the dining room, so the diningroom table was set with linen, or those ratty placemats, with a round Battenberg cloth in the center. I would flip the edge of the lace center doily up so I could have a clear space to do my homework.
Then sometime in that time my mother discovered those straw place mats that looked like sushi mats....and we used them for summer!
And we never ate at a table without at least a place mat!
AAh the memories!

Meanwhile, I'm displeased that it's so hard to find a decent vinyl place mat these days...

Here in sunny FL, I've often whitened old linens by hanging them to dry in the sun, after washing well, of course. sometimes I need to repeat for several days.

& I have a nice collection of vintage linens - mostly from thrift stores, but some estate sales too. I had to stop buying more, since I seem to have reached capacity!

Carol, are you speaking of linen in a general term as in bedding ect...or real linen?

One of these days I'll post how I clean old bed sheets...lol..its a process but not only will it pull out all of the old built up wax, but it will whiten to the point you will need sun glasses. LOL.

I just dont want to post it if no ones interested.

Old wax in bed sheets???
My sheets have no wax....never have had. Nor did my grandmother's nor my mother's. Fabric softeners didn't come about until about mid to late 1950's....and fabric softener contains no wax...in spite of what you may have heard.

Let's hear your method mamapinky. I have a big collection of vintage cotton and linen.

You can get old stuff at vintage and antique stores. It's getting more expensive though. I don't mind mending a hole whereas some people see those items as cutters to be recycled into jackets or crafts. I will remove lace and resew it to a new piece of linen rather than cut it up for crafts. If the piece has little stains, sometimes they turn into holes when the item is cleaned. Bleach can really weaken natural fabrics so I prefer some other method for yellowing or stains. I like to use a weaker solution and soak longer as needed.

One dealer says try Biz. Another uses Le Blanc. Oxy Clean is good for most whites but bleached the color on printed and embroidered items. Beware of items photographed on a red or rust cloth to make yellowed items look whiter. If you see dark brown specks, these often become holes later so don't just believe it when the seller just says it will soak out. Sometimes little spots soak out......and cloths with holes don't sell. What I can say is that the washing machine is hard on vintage stuff. I soak and hand squeeze and rinse and rinse and rinse until ALL the soap is out. Then I dry it on a clean surface outside or on clean white towels until damp and iron the last remaining moisture out. Wash your hands before handling it if you're going to store it for a while or wear quilters white gloves.

Real linen is amazing stuff and washed properly lasts and grows softer and softer. In the old days, they used a mangle to get a beautiful shine on the linens and the sheets had a silky softness after being put through a heated mangle. Supposedly you can get sheets sent out for that process in some cities. I prefer to wash my own so I've never seen it but it's a luxury service and I'd like to try it sometime and compare it with my ironed sheets. Mostly I never iron them anyway, just the table linens and fancy decorated towels and pillowcases.

Wax in sheets: everyone has body oils, when they build up in sheets do to improper washing it turns to wax in the fibers. Ever run across old sheets at a flea market or such that have yellow stains and stink? Or pull a set of sheets that you haven't used in forever out of the cubbord that smell bad? Its caused from body oils that build up in the fibers and turn waxy. I buy old 50/60 year old 100% percale sheets, used, they literally stink..old body oils turned to wax.

Linda, I didn't say your sheets had wax in them I'm refering to old sheets from sales that someone obviously didn't wash properly. bed sheets require hot water and a good TOL detergent to keep clean..so many people wash in cold water now days, but cold will not break up and remove body oils from sheets,

As for chlorine bleach in vintage linen, I agree, not a good idea. besides to many people use it improperly, it should always be used last five or six minutes of the wash cycle, its benefits all take place within five minutes any longer and its just eating the fabric.

OxiClean and Biz both have Sodium percarbonate ( oxygen bleach) in them...and although it won't strip out the color like chlorine bleach will it can fade colors, expecially if used with hot water. the embroidery on old textiles are extremely sensitive to oxygen bleach, and will fade them, but won't harm white fabrics.

Older bedding like cotton percale, muslin, or linen that is white can handle extreme hot temps, including boil washes. Many years ago, before the lovely invention of washing machines, linen was washed in huge tubs over a fire, and literally boiled, once the linen was done it was either hung in the sun or spread out in the fields for the sun to bleach out.

I will send in another post on what I do with old, used bedding after I get my grandson in the school bus.

I find a good washing with hot water and something like tide with maybe a shot of Borax cleans any old linens.
And years ago, when they boiled the wash in a tub, they didn't have the detergents we have now, didn't bathe as often as we do and wore their clothes until they were lots dirtier.
The only time I boil something is if I am dying it or felting it....and I don't do either very often.
Hmm....body oils turn to wax? Where did you learn that?
And Kitty, try ironing your linens....those made from linen, when they are very wet, with a hot iron. Iron them dry or iron them smooth and hang to dry....smooth again with the hot iron and they will be shiny and crisp....and never EVER iron a crease in anything linen. It will eventually break at the crease. Most people don't realize that linen is actually thermo-plastic, like some polyesters.

Body oils turn to wax when they build up in the fibers over time do to improper washing. Often times finding a great US made 100% percale sheet 60 years old its got so much body oils that have turned waxy that nothing short of several boil washes is going to remove it. I'm speaking of cotton not linen. But the same thing happens with linen sheets if improperly washed.

By the way linen is a natural fabric, it comes from the Flax plant.

Linen bedding available today. Very lovely

I well know where linen comes from....but it is also thermoplastic...a crease can be set with heat, and wet piece of linen can be made smooth and crisp with the application of heat.
And wax and body oils are chemically different things.
Wash as you choose, but please don't try to tell people that you must boil antique pillow cases to get them clean. A good hot wash with a detergent booster like borax does wonders.

I have a large number of vintage table linens (tablecloths, runners, napkins, tea towels) - many are real linen & some are cotton too.

I have been washing old bedding for some time, my way for sure isn't for everyone..but not only does it remove the waxy body oil build up, it kills the nasty germs as chlorine iisn't good for vintage..it also kills bed bugs tha

t have made a come back. of course I'm not telling anyone they HAVE to boil vintage bedding I only was commenting on what I do. And as this is an open forum I am permitted to voice my ideas and opinions, which I have done in a respectful way..and body oils built up do turn waxy . Never ment to upset anyone over something so silly, guess I best stay over in the laundry room.

Imagining some of the 'waxy' buildup may be from beauty products like lotions...?

Carol...everyone secretes body oils, and it

rub off on bed sheets..if they arnt washed properly with good old fashioned hot water than the oils build up in the fibers turning like a waxy substance that becomes very difficult to remove.

Body oils do not turn to "a waxy substance". Wondering where you heard that?

....and how long does one have to sleep on bed sheets for oils to build up and turn into the "waxy" substance? Ewww, I just bet the smell would get to you at any rate before it turned into anything like you say is "a waxy substance". I think that if you were going to store these bed linens you would wash them properly before storage, and put them away clean.

Yes but look at how many people wash in cold or even hot yet not realizing their machines hot may not even be 100F.

Lindac...I don't exactly know where I've heard it..but go I over to the laundry room and ask those experts over there..smart as a whip and they know everything about laundry related issues...kinda like how you are an expert with antiques. perhaps they can clear it up.

Not to brag....but I am also somewhat of an expert on laundry. I worked for a time in the product testing labrotory of a major appliance maker. We studied the science of how clothes are soiled, what makes up that soil and what products and actions are best to remove them with the least wear on the items.
And cold water DOES dissolve oils and grease. It's not the heat that does it but the detergent. As an example think how you spray a cleaner on a greasy counter and wipe the grease right off....no need to boil it.
And body oils do not turn to wax in spite of what the "experts" on the laundry forum say.

Lol..counters have fibers that constrict? If your a laundry expert...you would know what I'm saying. you can have the floor...apparently I have upset your control here. I sure never ment to cause any problems, I will not be returning..so if anyone wants to learn about this issue Houzz has a lovely laundry room with a lot of kind folks that are brilliant in the area of laundry. Real laundry experts.

Eek :o

Wondering if sebum is meant here...?