I have an old embroidered linen tablecloth that was my grandmother's. It's clean and snowy white, but there are two place where there are some small holes.

At one point, someone tried to mend one of the holes with some iron-on mending tape. I think that led to a few more holes surrounding it.

I can sew a bit. I'm better with the sewing machine than hand sewing, not sure if I'm up for darning. And in any case, these aren't simple rips, there's actual fabric missing in a couple of places, so I'm not sure darning is the answer.

I'm not looking to make this tablecloth look perfect. What I want is a way to repair the holes so that they don't rip and become larger holes, and maybe fill up the holes so that they aren't quite so obvious. There's enough embroidery and cutwork on the tablecloth that minor repairs should just blend in a bit.

The tablecloth gets used in the summer as a bedspread, but unless I can stabilize the holey areas, I'll pretty much have to retire it. And it seems a shame to put a pretty piece into a drawer and let it just sit there for eternity.

Can someone point me in the direction of instructions on how to do this?