Vintage fabrics
My mother-in-law sent me a couple of yards of this beautiful vintage upholstery canvas, from the 1960's. In a former life the screen printed fabric was a roller blind she remembers in her apartment in London. The piece had some stains and fading, and was generally dingy, but had been well stored rolled around its own dowel. That's one of my grandmother's teaspoons for scale.
I machine washed it and then soaked it in the wonderful "Retro Clean" for several days in the sun. A clear soda bottle full of water made a terrific weight. The result is beautiful - the vibrancy has been restored to all but a couple of inches at the "bottom" which evidently hung in the sun for some unknown number of years and faded. I plan on making a couple of dolls, including one promised to said MIL, and matching mother and daughter A-line skirts for Jayn and I. What a bonanza!
Taking the opportunity to restore some of my grandmother's kitchen linens, I also soaked these two pieces of screen printed cotton. I am guessing that they are from the 1940's or 1950's, and I think they were table runners. Sadly there are a couple of holes and a few stains that even Retro Clean couldn't remove. The aesthetic reminds me of the work of "Made With Love by Hannah". I'm thinking some cute hostess aprons with some co-ordinating cotton and rick rack.
(Hey - I learnt how to insert hyperlinks into the text of my blog - Yay!)
I machine washed it and then soaked it in the wonderful "Retro Clean" for several days in the sun. A clear soda bottle full of water made a terrific weight. The result is beautiful - the vibrancy has been restored to all but a couple of inches at the "bottom" which evidently hung in the sun for some unknown number of years and faded. I plan on making a couple of dolls, including one promised to said MIL, and matching mother and daughter A-line skirts for Jayn and I. What a bonanza!
Taking the opportunity to restore some of my grandmother's kitchen linens, I also soaked these two pieces of screen printed cotton. I am guessing that they are from the 1940's or 1950's, and I think they were table runners. Sadly there are a couple of holes and a few stains that even Retro Clean couldn't remove. The aesthetic reminds me of the work of "Made With Love by Hannah". I'm thinking some cute hostess aprons with some co-ordinating cotton and rick rack.
(Hey - I learnt how to insert hyperlinks into the text of my blog - Yay!)
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