Restoring damaged vintage pieces

[hudelei]

I picked up some lovely old vintage crochet pieces recently, and the lady who sold me the stuff was so pleased to see her granny's work going to someone who admired them and hoped to make something beautiful out of them. She even threw in some extra thread that seemed to match and be what her grandmother had been working with, and some other assorted pieces that she had for free.

 

The trouble is that one of the pieces I purchased is damaged (and lots of the extra, free pieces were). I bought twelve Irish rose crocheted squares (Irish rose on the usual sort of mesh pattern, with decorative edging) and one of them is damaged not just on the edging, but down into the mesh. The ends that the lady left are very short, less than an inch sometimes, so there's not much chance of using them to repair anything. I do have the extra thread I could use that came with the squares, but have no real idea how to go about repairing it. Should I? Or should I just decide I have eleven good squares and make something with those instead of wasting my time on a repair that will never look good?

 

Any ideas? And what would YOU make if you had a dozen gorgeous Irish rose crocheted squares?

[Stacey]

I wish I could help you out with some ideas for restoring it, but I haven't had any experience with that...

 

They sound lovely. Not knowing what size they are some of these may sound silly but maybe a table runner? Or maybe joined together and set into a lightweight shawl somehow? Or a wall hanging, maybe set into a shadowbox to help preserve them?

[hudelei]

Those are good ideas, Stacey. I'm trying to figure out the repairs first so I know what I have to work with, but after that we'll see. I've got to try to clean them too before I can match the cream-colored thread (just in case it is really white!). It's a real fixer-upper, this project!

[Chatty]

I restored a doily one time with several holes in it and when I was done the lady said she couldn't even see where I'd made the repairs. It can be done if it's done carefully, you just have be able to hide your ends.

 

I did have to do some on how to do it but I'm good at thinking ouside the box sometimes and come up with some pretty good ideas.

 

The lady was happy anyway.