Both of these pieces are about 6″ x 6″, maybe a little less. Neither of them are especially lovely, but to me they represent someone trying to achieve something – and are rather like early things I tried for myself without really beginning at the right point or having someone knowledgeable to show me how to really start.
In the first one the planning or layout is poorly done, even the central motif is odd and puzzling. It might not be meant to represent anything in particular, but like reading the stars or the tealeaves, one could read something into it.

The second one is interesting for the filling and the border, but the 60’s stylised flower is soooo heavy and inappropriate for the surrounding delicacy, IMHO. However at a cost of a peso or two only, I could afford to collect these as reminders of anti-design, if nothing else.
Someone recently asked me what I am going to do with all these little textile samples I collect. I don’t recall what I said exactly, but it would have included the thought that I don’t feel I have to do or make anything with them, they have a value to me just as they are. I wouldn’t want a whole tablecloth’s worth of most of them, and I do use the pieces that still have some practical value such as table mats, cloths and serviettes. Sometimes I come across some that have been ripped out of sample books, like these two, and wish they were still in amongst notes & teacher comments. 

Of course, closer inspection shows both these samples to be machine made, and not very well done at that -reminding me of my first efforts using Golden Hands the weekly craft magazine that was published in UK around 1970.

and although I really don’t know how the above filling was achieved, with it’s delicacy, I do know I could manage this kind of filling to holes, making ‘lace’, althougn for the moment I am not planning in heading off in that direction. There is some amazing machine made lace art being made by several prominent Australian textile artists including Dijanne Cevaal. I might have to take a workshop from her some time. 

Dipping into the collection I have for this one today – rather old and stained by water or something from inside the container where it was kept for all those ages before it emerged onto the street stall where I bought it. The motif is about 4 inches/10 cm at it’s widest.
The mesh filling is very fine and I just love the delicacy of the connecting bars – needlemade lace for sure but with the appearance of my aunt’s tatting – still, both needle and shuttle do the same thing in this case.
A set of serviettes or a tablecloth with lots of this kind of motif would be worth a fortune today if in good condition. I have my eyes open when out on the street markets – the quality of some of the pieces on sale out there is very high, often much better than a couple of private collections I have seen. A lot of traditional embroidery comes up in estate sales – several people have made the statement supporting what I have observed – that the younger people want modern easy-care stuff, and are not usually prepared to spend the time and effort required to keep linen like this in use and carefully laundered. I did meet L, one collector who has masses of table linen, both everyday and some very special things, eg, a massive ecru coloured venetian lace cloth. Stunning, and probably priceless. Sometimes he lends some of them for special occasions, such as weddings and serious significant birthdays or other celebrations. (the formal cloths tend to be very long, up to 4m, and some longer, which cover some of the massively long fully extended family dining tables still to be found here) And he pays to have one of the few remaining specialist laundries downtown to have his best table cloths hand washed and dried blocked out over special stretcher bars. That in itself might be an interesting expedition, I must ask my friend V where to go…. I am of modern mind – and generally use table mats or cloths I can iron MOL easily (no ironing is easy, imho) and I will pay to have several large damask cloths we have laundered commercially. (used at such times as Christmas if the family are around) Where I go here, the cloth is machine washed and ironed on a press. For the equivalent of US$10, they do a very good job, with the cloth being presented folded over a coathanger. A while ago I bought a lovely, fabulous linen cloth embroidered in lots of lovely flowers, whitework, about 2.5 m long with hemstitched borders, for under equivalent US$100, and now just waiting for the family (at least 10 of them) to appear for Christmas/New Year here this year, and I am sure my local cleaner will deal with it just fine. Depending on how we go with the red wine, I might even do the napisan thing myself and take the clean cloth round for pressing.