Question about antique lace- advice needed

[LovesVintage43]

Hello all you crafty people !
I have a question regarding some beautiful black antique lace that I have inherited from my great aunt. She told me it was originally harvested from a dismantled Victorian gown...I have strips of the lace, sleeves, and hand stitched crocheted discs and sequin, seed bead & paste trims and ornate buttons which she cut from the gown but never used. Although the lace has been stored in bags and is in excellent condition, it
has aquired a musty odour and I would like to sell this lace on, but need to sort this out first. Can anyone give advice on how I can safely freshen it up wthout shrinking or ruining it? Many thanks in advance !

[Anniemcc2]

Did a quick Google and came up with these:

http://www.honitonlace.com/honitonla.../cleaning2.htm

http://magpies-laundry.co.uk/2010/04...-grannys-lace/

HTH

[LovesVintage43]

Wow, thanks for that...ok I am going to try and air it out first to see if that helps :-)

[meebo1]

I had an antique lace altar cloth. As I was new to the world of lace I used it and when necessary washed it - in the washing machine. I showed it to my lace teacher one day and when she heard what I had done she nearly fainted. She told me it was probably 150 - 200 years old. Well it survived the modern washing method unscathed and we sold it via auction a bit later. But I don't recommend this, just wanted to share

[LovesVintage43]

Funny thing is...it probably would survive the washing machine! I wonder how they used to clean their gowns back then...I mean, there were no dry cleaners! Maybe they just wore them until they got smelly...all the other stuff used to just get boiled and wrung through a mangle then ironed with those old hot irons...these days everything has 40 or handwash on it!!

[purplestevie]

Funny thing is...it probably would survive the washing machine! I wonder how they used to clean their gowns back then...I mean, there were no dry cleaners! Maybe they just wore them until they got smelly...all the other stuff used to just get boiled and wrung through a mangle then ironed with those old hot irons...these days everything has 40 or handwash on it!!

Are you selling the buttons too ?

[LovesVintage43]

Are you selling the buttons too ?

Yes I will be. I have to go through everything and sort it all out as it is all jumbled together and in different bags...bit of a nightmare ! I don't know how many of each thing I have as it's all dotted around. *sigh*