Lovely Tablecloth

This lovely tablecloth was rescued from the bottom of some huge piles at an estate sale. Hooray for salvage operations!

I'm finding myself drawn to all sorts of textiles and other art with a multi-color, full-spectrum palette.  So this cross-stitch embroidery is just the thing for me, really cheerful and pleasing.

Add to that, all the delicate crochet insets, and a bit of pulled thread detailing, and it's the coolest tablecloth I've seen.

It had some pretty nasty yellow stains on it.  I did a couple of spot cleaning attempts, one with Fels Naptha soap which didn't seem to do much.  Fels Naptha seems really best with oily stains, so either that's not what they are, or they're so old that the Fels can't lift them.  (Fels is great with underarm stains and with make-up smudges, by the way.)  I also tried dish soap, which I find one of the most effective cleaners for food stains, which is not terribly surprising, I guess.  It also didn't do much, possibly due to the age of the stains.  And if they've been washed before, which I suspect, and if they've been ironed in as well, they are pretty well set in.

It's now been through a couple of multiple-day soaks in an oxy cleaner.  All this has whitened the fabric considerably, and lightened the stains.  It is now presentable enough to photograph, but I'd still like to try some more on the stains before I iron it.

It also has a couple of little nips and tears to be mended.  But for me, that's all a small price to pay for such a beautiful piece of needlework!