Sonata:
Have you noticed how rare it is these days to find a proper fabric shop ? It's been a while since I've been in one like this , now that everyone this age shops in H & M . But , thanks to recycling shops and Collectors Fairs , there's still fascinating stuff to be had , if not in vast quantities .
Last week , in Leiden , after walking past this splendid statue ( Leiden was a textile town , years ago ) , I found the red piece in this trio in a charity shop ... I have no idea when this design was manufactured . I should imagine it was used for household linen for quite a few years , since you see it fairly regularly . 1940s , perhaps .
But I couldn't resist this either .... a 1950s kitchen tablecloth .... this must have been so modern when some young housewife dished up supper on it ( something with a glacè cherry on top perhaps , followed by a bowl of lime jelly ? )
Then there's this tiny piece ... remember when everything had to be orange ? There's something rather Mary Whitehouse about the print , though , rather than trendy
On the 20th , Friend and I are hoping to go to the Amsterdam Traditional Textiles Fair at the Duif church , but it'll be just to admire and yearn . Vintage textiles are .... justifiably ... rather expensive , but nothing brings a period more to life than the clothes they wore and the sheets they slept in .
11 comments:
Oooh, that tablecloth! Gorgeous or what!
I love fabric. I am trying so hard not to go out and replace the stash I edited so fiercely with loads more. That would be foolish. Fabric has to come in with an immediate requirement written all over it. Repeat after me: fabric has to come in.... Well of course it does.
I made a two piece skirt suit with some brown and orange print very like that, in my youth.
You have just stumbled upon one of my passions.... vintage linens! I have a collection of mid-century tablecloths that has exceeded my storage space, so they now also reside in my pantry. I put a different one on the table each week, to the chuckling amusement of my husband, who doesn't "get it" but appreciates my apparent joy.
Love your retro fish tablecloth!!!
I wonder whether Freud ever thought of interpreting fabrics. Can't help thinking the tablecloth would make an interesting case study.
Enjoyed very much all those lovely posts on Amsterdam.
Can I come too? I promise to behave......
I have blogged before about my shameful stock of old tablecloths, and people buy me them as well. In my defence I do use them and I like ironing...
Once again I'm jealous of your proposed trip.
Love that 50s tablecloth - but not sure I would want it to dress my table though. I said goodbye to tablecloths a long while ago- apart from high days and holidays when a crisp white damask emerges from the drawer.
However visits to car boot sales see me resisting temptation - there are so many beautiful pieces of good linen which I wish I needed to buy. Like Elizabeth I try only to buy if I need too.
I'm always bemoaning the dearth of fabric shops and market stalls here (though my sewing is very basic). I made most of my small collection of tablecloths but have to say my favourite was bought in India.
That brown and orange flowery fabric reminds me of the wallpaper I had in my bedroom. And of course I had an orange television. And brown carpet. And orange and cream knitted pillows on my bed. Very funky. And a Japanese paper umbrella mounted on the ceiling in the corner above my bed with a light behind it. Ahhh, memories. And all because of that small piece of fabric :-)
That last fabric is so familiar!
There is a huge textile shop in Tiverton (Devon), Heathcoat's. It's sited in the original factory - no, wait, it might be in the school next door that the founder built for the children of the town.
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