Preserving antique linens takes special care, skill

My passion for exquisite linens began years ago. If I remember correctly, it was engendered when I was given the task of organizing my mother's linen closet at our home on Elm Place in Nutley, N.J.

Behind the confusion of mismatched towels and masses of sheets and pillowcases used on the eight Kostyras' beds were a few beautifully embroidered hand towels and some pillow slips with satin-stitch needlework and colorful crocheted hems. When asked, Mother admitted that they had been part of her mother's dowry and were never used. I wrapped them in white tissue paper and put them aside, and they are the core of what has become a very large collection of bed and table linens.

My collection grew as I grew, got married and created a home with my family. Our house on Turkey Hill Road in Westport, Conn., had very few closets, so I found two big mahogany linen presses, fitted with large sliding drawers, in which to store white-work sheets, chintz coverlets and monogrammed napkins.

In the '70s and '80s there were fantastic tag sales in Fairfield County, Conn. Many old estates were being broken up, and the country manses were emptied of embroidered bed linens and personalized table linens made from Irish linen, Eastern European damasks and fine Italian needlework.

These linens, purchased by wealthy families on grand tours of Europe, were sold for a fraction of their original cost. I think this was the result of several factors: the absence of trained laundresses to take care of these beautiful items, the difficulty and time required to wash and iron such complex creations and the influx at department stores of no-iron sheets and other linens that made making the bed so much easier.

Collectors and dreamers like me gathered these extraordinary castoffs. I learned to wash them properly, iron them correctly and store them archivally. Great cardboard boxes were purchased and loaded with new items, labeled and stacked in the cool attic spaces of Turkey Hill.

Skylands, my home in Maine, boasts not only a great assortment of linens but also a linen room — original to the house — and a wonderful, sunny laundry room that encourages a collector to launder and iron these lovely items.

My laundering skills have improved over time: I never use scented soap in my laundry room, and all bedding and towels are washed in front-loading nonagitating washing machines, without fabric softeners.