Vintage Pillow Cases

I am beginning to love estate sales and such. I love vintage linens!!  So, there is one little concern, though, with me and resale items.  Cats.  I am horribly allergic to them, crazy allergic, like, my airway is closing off kind of crazy allergic.  It didn’t use to be that bad, into my early thirties, I could at least be around them for a short amount of time, without respiratory distress.  The good news is that if things like pillow cases had been in a house with a cat.....my eyes would start itching immediately, my eyes are a pretty good indicator if there is residual cat dander.

With that all said, I found these beauties today while out doing an errand.  Oh, aren’t they special?

So, there is one other little detail. I am a bit of a germaphobe.  I get a little skittish thinking that someone else’s drooling mouth might have been on these lovelies.  I came home and soaked them in half strength vinegar, leaving the embroidered part out of the bucket.....no one drools on embroidery, do they? Then, I washed them by hand, hung them out to dry, washed them AGAIN when I noticed that they got all black on the back of them from blowing in the wind and hitting the blackened cords of my outside clothesline. You can tell I use it.....often.  After washing them twice, and trying to get a barely perceptible perfumey smell out them.....I dried them for a little bit, and ironed the heck out of them.  I bet most cooties die under the heat of a steam iron, that’s what I keep telling myself.    

What I love the most is the crochet edging.  LOVE IT!!! Does anyone know of a good tutorial site for such edging?  I would love to add that to quilts and such.....

I still haven’t decided if I am going to use these for stuffing my pillows into....or will I disassemble them and add that wonderful edging to a sewing project.  I have seen some really neat things done with this, like, along the bottom of a skirt, or on a jacket or purse.  

I’m exhausted.....too much pillowcase buying for one day.  

Craft Fearlessly, 

--Ma