Hexie Heart Vintage Embroidered Tablecloth

Like many I have become completely infatuated with vintage embroidered linens. To me they are little pieces of joy, lovingly stitched by sewers past, made to bring a little beauty to the everyday. Tablecloths to dine on, hankies to cry on, tray cloths to make teatime extra special, and doilies to add a touch of prettiness to home decor.

These pieces can either have a naiveite to the stitching, or they can be absolutely impeccable with not a single stitch out of place. Whether they have been stitched by an amateur or a seasoned stitcher, they are all charming and don’t deserve to be lost souls in op shops, antique shops, or even worse the rubbish.

Rescuing these little treasures of stitch has become a favourite past time and I’m certainly not the only one to have started collecting. They are becoming hot commodities on Facebook groups, Instagram sales pages, Etsy and Ebay. They seem to be increasingly hard to come by in op shops and vintage or antique shops and it’s like finding a rare diamond when you come across one.

To Cut or not to Cut, that is the Question

It seems if you are a lover of vintage linens, embroidered or otherwise, you are in one of two camps, the cut them up camp or the don’t touch them camp! There are many who feel it’s wrong to cut up beautiful, embroidered linens in order to use them in another way, be it in a quilt, junk journaling or other slow stitch project. I totally get it. Someone has spent a lot of time doing that embroidery and it seems a shame to ‘destroy’ them.

Unfortunately, though, unless you are a fan of the cottage core or granny chic decorating aesthetic, vintage linens have largely fallen out of style and therefore find themselves shoved away, unused, unloved and unadmired.

So which camp am I in? Well, I’m a bit like Switzerland, and sit on the fence to some degree. I am pro cutting them up, but also pro leaving them intact. If they are stained or damaged and beyond reasonable repair, I’m perfectly happy for them to be cut up and used in new ways. If the stains can be removed or they can be mended, I’m for that too, especially if there is someone who loves it to the point that they will use and display it with pride and joy.

For the pieces that are beautiful, where the stitching is truly remarkable, and they are in perfect condition I lean towards not cutting and preserving it as a whole. However, at the same time I can see how new beauty can be breathed in to it in some other way, like incorporating it into a quilt or textile art piece, or slow stitch project.

Really, I think it comes down to each piece as an individual and how it speaks to the beholder. I have some beautiful pieces I have collected that I just can’t cut up because I love them as they are and instead proudly display them in my studio and home. Other pieces speak to me of new ideas and call to me to be re-purposed in some wonderful new way.

Such was the scenario when I purchased an embroidered tablecloth from Facebook…

I had bought this particular tablecloth at a good price and fully intended for it to be cut up and used in making slow stitch kits, however when I opened up the package and laid eyes on it, the tablecloth had other ideas.

Instantly my mind started whirling, inspiration was bounding around like a little white fluffy bunny, the embroidered flowers were smiling up at me brightly, and then the tablecloth whispered to me…I need a hexie heart.

Of course! What genius! A big, scrappy hexie heart would look just wonderful in the center! Made from half inch hexies, it would be made with scraps of pretty fabrics, florals, and spots, and tiny ginghams. The colours would be bright pastels to match the embroidery floss. The center of the tablecloth had been waiting all these years to have a joyful heart stitched right at it’s center. Who was I to deny it!

And so I soaked the table cloth, making sure she was nice and clean, hung her out in the warm sunshine to dry, ironed out all of her creases, and then neatly folded her up and put her in a box, knowing that she would not meet the scissors but at some time come back in contact with a needle and thread. I closed the lid and carried on working on my other projects, vowing to get to that heart later.

But she kept calling to me. When I was in the shower, while cooking dinner, while waiting at school pick-up. She’d whisper to me when I was ironing, working on the computer, while I was reading and when I was stitching on those other projects, until one day I got up, rifled through my scraps, got out my half inch hexie palette box and started to stitch her a heart.

I cannot fully explain the peace and joy I feel when I’m hand stitching together a hexie heart. It speaks to my creative soul. There is something utterly charming about them. I’m not sure if it’s the size of the hexies themselves, the collection of scrappy fabrics that get stitched together or that as a heart it represents my love and adoration for this craft that I do.

I knew when I started that this would turn out to be the biggest hexie heart in terms of physical size I had ever made. Like always I started with a single hexie flower and then begun working my way around it, adding more and more hexies as I went.

Eventually I got it to a size where I needed to start forming the heart shape. If you’re interested in making your own hexie heart, I have a fantastic Pattern collection that includes piecing charts for 11 different hearts using a variety of hexagon sizes. You can find it Here.

I got the heart to a descent size and decided to check and see if I thought it was bigger enough…it was not! And so back to the scrap bin I went to baste more hexies to stitch on. In the end I pieced together 222 half inch hexies to make the heart, and the finished size fits absolutely perfectly.

But the tablecloth told me I was not done. She did unfortunately have two small holes that could have easily been mended with a bit of darning, but she wanted something a bit more special than that to act as a band aid. She wanted some hexie flowers to encircle her heart and complete her garden of stitches.

So, I made seven half inch hexie flowers and four three eighth inch hexie flowers, with one of the flowers acting as the perfect band aid to cover her holes. This brought the hexie count to 299.

With the piecing done, it was time to set the layout and get her heart and flowers appliqued on. Being made of quite a soft fabric of I’m not too sure what, possibly cotton/poly blend or just a really high-quality linen or cotton, I decided to use my go to applique method of using an applique sheet adhesive (in the case Heat N Bond Light, available in my shop). Once I had everything ironed and fixed in place it was time to slip stitch applique everything down, a process I find just as soothing as hand piecing.

With the final stitch done, the threads tied off, she was complete. She was beautiful before, but now she is perfectly gorgeous…even if I do say so myself. I feel this is one of those projects where the stars aligned to create something truly unique. There was love and joy stitched into her before by another’s hands, and now I have added to that love and joy with my hands.

The Story Continues

With her heart proudly displayed and her flowers blooming brightly there is, but one thing left that I think she deserves and that is a name…I shall call her Floralee. She represents all that I love about stitching. She will be displayed proudly and never again be put aside in a box. She will be shared with other stitchers to inspire, and she will bring joy when used. And one day, in the very, very, very distant future, she will be handed down to someone I feel is worthy of her, with strict instructions that she is NOT to be cut up.

I have a video on my YouTube channel where you can follow along as I stitch on this wonderful project and chat about the process, watch it HERE.

Happy Stitching Dear Friends,

Miss Leela x