Vintage Lace Runner = King Sized Bed (border) Sheet

Although I don't know as much as I'd like to about vintage linens, I certainly admire the detail of crochet, lace, needlework, embroidery and fine handwork that went into so many of them.

My bedroom linens are dark, as are the walls, so I want to bring whites in where I can to help brighten the areas.  One such way to do this is by adding a white, flat sheet, with a beautiful border that can be folded down over the blankets, to my bed.  It not only lightens, but softens the area as well.

What I did to create the look was initially search online for a vintage sheet, but because King sized mattresses were not produced until 1958, by Simmons, it is virtually impossible to find an antique or even vintage, flat sheet that truly fits a king sized bed. I did find a beautiful, vintage linen sheet but it did not adequately cover the bed, and even worse, much worse, is that linen sheets, ironed sheets!, are NOT comfortable.  It didn't make it through the first night on our bed. 

(by the way, the above photo was taken at my old house...see that blob of paint on the wall, above the bed?...That was there for two years!  I never could make up my mind about painting this room, so the paint wound up on a wall at my shop!)

So, my quest for a pretty flat sheet for my bed continued.

While perusing online linen sources I saw something that really caught my eye.  It was called a sheet border, a decorative piece to lay across the bed to make it appear as an exquisite, bordered sheet and was used after a woman gave birth, to welcome visitors but still have a bed that looked beautifully made up.

   

I recently contacted a textile expert,  Cynthia, owner of Cynthia's Linen Room  to inquire about border sheets, if what I thought they were was true and if this is what they were used for.  She graciously replied and told me that because of the availability and affordability of bedding today that she refers to them as

"Faux Sheet Top, Sham (as in false) Sheet or False Sheet, or Churching Set".  Cynthia went on to explain that,

"We just can't imagine those days, even well into the 20th century, when people commonly received visitors from bed. We also can't imagine the lengths people would go to display their wealth and power, or, as the case of a new mother who'd be too wiped out to change the bedding on her bed, have something (relatively) easy to make it appear that her bed was not only "made up" but "made up really fancy" to show off her new child to visitors".


Cynthia shared these two photos of border sheets with me, which are part of her personal collection of antique linens.


The first photo, Cynthia says, "is an exquisite one with amazing embroidery, including a pair of birds. I can't even begin to stress how fine and rare this piece is! (for the work)."

The next photo, she continues,  "was a False sheet top, c. 1880, that belonged to Russian nobility. You could imagine that, in using a sheet with all that lace, it could easily be damaged during sleep, especially if someone tossed and turned or allowed dogs on the bed! The solution was to bring this item out and make it look as though a rare and even-more-costly item was on the bed. One, really fine fabric was expensive, even if you were royal and, two... making a bed all the way is hard work; the false sheets are actually easier and use yards less fabric."

 I decided that I'd try to create something similar to a border sheet for my bed (not that I plan on giving birth...ever again...six times was enough for me!).  I already had the sheet below, with a pretty border...but I wanted something with more detail, a much wider, showier lace edge to it.  

So my attention turned to finding a vintage piece of fabric...I have a few vintage/antique flounces (pieces from Victorian dresses), but mine again were not long enough for my bed.   I finally decided that  a vintage table runner may work.  And so it did.  I found a stunning, 100" long, needle lace table runner which turned out to be perfect.

It looks beautiful under the sheet as well.

It fits exactly over my existing king sized sheet, hanging over the bed just right, and is easy to put on in the morning and take off at night...

...along with all of the other pillows.

My Mother in law made the rose petal pillows seven or eight years ago...I LOVE these!

What do you think of using the table runner as a border sheet?  

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