Wanda Pease wrote: <snip>
Being totally ignorant about lace... were they ever supposed to be white? The most beautiful three are ecru (?) or a coffee with lots of cream shade.
Quite possibly not. The late Victorians and Edwardians very much liked "antique-looking" ecru and cream shades for lace. If you hand wash the lace in a gentle soap solution, what comes off is probably dirt and what remains is probably dye of some sort (coffee was sometimes used, among other things).
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