Mounting and Displaying a Vintage Crocheted Dresser Scarf

Dear Donia,

What is the best way to mount and display a crocheted vintage dresser scarf? 

vintage dresser scarf

Q. Dear Donia,

I have a beautiful vintage dresser scarf crocheted by my great-grandma and want to display it in a frame. I read your advice on preserving doilies, and saw that you don't recommend starching. This item has points and I'm wondering how to make them not curl in the mount. Also, an aunt has said they used to use liquid starch and pin (in between the stitches) the item down to dry like they wanted. Do you think wetting and pinning is too dangerous? Thanks, Kat 
 

A. Dear Kat,

What a wonderful item to have to remember your great-grandmother!

Starching is not the best for older fabrics as we just don't know what is in our modern starches, spray, liquid or otherwise. Especially dangerous would be weeing and pinning, especially if you don't know how the original materials have aged. What you could consider is having your framer gently stitch the points onto the underlying mat board with a thread that blends with the crochet and is chemically stable (polyester is good here). It shouldn't be tied too tightly that it could cut through the original fibers but just enough to hold it in place. I have done this for a couple of christening gowns I have framed. It works really well and is very easy to remove if needed.