Upcycling textiles - second hand findings

Table towel upcycling 

Many people are afraid to buy textiles in second hand. Some think it is unhygienic and that it smells bad. I can understand their point of view. Some do not how to take care of textiles that need upcycling and extra care.  

On one of my latest "treasure hunting" at a second hand shop I found this precious example of handicraft, a cross stitched table towel.

Just think about the hours and energi someone put on this beautiful towel! 

I bought it for about 10 Euros. I took it home and hand washed it with mild soap a couple of times, not just to clean it. I too need to take away the "second hand shop"-smell and feel it is really, really clean. 

There was a catch though... It had a hole near the middle. So, what would you do? Throw away this good example of quality handicraft or try to rescue it? 

I tried to rescue it. I could have done so many things with it. Clip parts of it and apply them on other textiles, furniture and so on. However I really wanted to keep it so close to the original as possible. I also bought some chrochet to apply it on the towel. Of course I could't just ignore the hole... 

 

 I had thread in the same beige tone at home, so I sew the hole carefully filling in the gap.

Then I applied the chrochet piece gluing it with textile glue and sewing the edges of the chrochet piece to the towel to give some stability. 

 

I'am very happy with the result. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to take pictures to the final result. I promise to update this post on that as soon as I can! 

Don't be afraid to go treasure hunting on textiles on second hand shops and to upcycle your findings! Good hunting!