Vintage Linens

Vintage linens are so popular today and thier popularity is gaining. Thrift stores, consignment shops, even antique malls are filled with booths dedicated to this genre. Family pieces that were used when I was young....I thought were new.... were cherished hand-made memories from Aunts. I suppose it was the imputus to my own collecting.

This tablerunner is from my M-I-L. It was given to her as a wedding gift...she said it was old then, but not sure how old............................................

I was so excited. It's a turn-of-the century hand-tatted lace runner. Just recently a friend of mine had been given a tatting set with patterns and examples that dates back to then and lo and behold, there was the runner Now we know for sure how old it really is. This teatowel was given to her at the same time.........

This is a bridgetable cloth from the 40's. I love the colors and the French Knots.

This is a dresser scarf my Grandma had begun and one she hadn't gotten too. 

  Someday I'll finish em for her.

Here are some pics of some other linens in my collection some I will keep, but others will become parts of my creations...............................................................................................

I guess it's no surprize that my Brown Gingham Creations have thier origins in vintage linens...............

A placemat combining vintage inspired papers with a medallion I created by using a vintage 1940-50 tablecloth and then hand-embroidered  for embellishment.






                                                      

This hand-embroidered pillow was a 1950-60 dishtowel

 I hand-embroidered this 1968 pillowcase

 The Southern Belle is from the 1930's and she was a teatowel

This canvas tote sports a band created from a 1940's tablecloth









This autumnal tablerunner was a 1960's dishtowel.

and, this Angelic Light is a trip thru time. A 1960's spun plastic doll lamp has been reworked. A 1950's hankie that I hand-embroidered is added as a skirt. A 1940's hand-crocheted doily creates her apron, decolatage at the bodice, and accent the parasol. Her wings were vintage lace trim.





Rework-----Repurpose----Recreate
I love taking love worn textiles and making them new again.

Don't forget to visit my Saturday friends over at Southern Lady Vintage for Saturday Vintage Love. They are showing off thier vintage linens too! I'm on my over there now. We can go thru here
And, Monday I'm joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Moday. Let's go over there too and see some pretty vintage inspired tranformations

I love it when a table theme comes together !!!

Hi Welcome! I'm so glad you got to stop by. Hope you had a great Red, white and blue weekend.

I know that summer has officially started, but I just could not resist doing this Holland Inspired (some would think spring) tabletop. Last year I found this vintage 1940's tablecloth at a friends blog 'yard sale'.............

It's a very happy print in greens, yellow, red. and blue.  It depicts a Dutch boy and girl in a small village with windmills, sailboats, seagulls and of course the national flower of Holland the Tulip. I think its so unique, but alas very worn.....so, LOL, don't look too close. Eventually it'll become a tablerunner for my table and a myriad of other creations for my Etsy and website. I just couldn't pass up using it today for this tablescape because.............

I found a place setting of six of these dishes at an antique mall! The red caught my eye and as I focused in closer I couldn't believe it, a little Dutch Girl by a canal with a windmill, cottage, and sailboat. I thought since they were marked on the back, Stanton 24k gold, they'd be out of my price range. Ya know how when you look at something, but you think you just aren't focusing right....ok maybe you don't cause you're not almost 50.....anyway.....it read $15.  My Mom laughed cause I didn't think about, didn't take a moment, didn't go around once and come back, I picked every piece up and placed it in our cart. No one was gonna grab these. You see they not only go with the tablecloth, but they match the pattern of these.........................

          

This vintage hand-wrought aluminum tray by Continental 

and this Orman ice bucket I have had for a few years.

I was so happy when I later found this meat platter and vegetable dish.

     

To complete the table I used other things I had collected over the years, like..............

Two aluminum chargers. One round for him and one floral for her.

This vintage aluminum serving tongs and salt and pepper.

New acrylic and aluminum tea/water glasses

Vintage Pressed Glass vegetable dishes

1990's Onieda 'Southern Garden' silver serving spoons

1990's hand-woven napkins from Gatlinburg, Tn.  I folded to create silverware cozys.

A vintage chrome percolator coffee pot. I can't make out the maker, but it clearly reads Stratford-on-Avon, England. The creamer and sugar are Rodney Kent.

Took this pedestal plate, inverted it, and topped it with

a plate and created this                                                                        

cake plate. And, for mood lighting.......................................

an oil lanp from the early 1900's.

Put it all together and add a Flemish Bouquet......................

A Dutch treat table for two.

As I said, I love it when a table theme comes together! And, it only took a few years to locate all the components. I think the fun of the search is why vintage collections are so popular.

I'm linking this post to Susan over at It's a Very Cherry World for her Rednesday and at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch for her Tablescape Thursday. Remember to stop by both these very gracious hostesses and chexk out the participants at their memes.

A-huntin we will go.......

......a-huntin we will go hi ho the merri-o a-huntin we will go.........and we did too at the Ohio Valley Antique Mall. It's hard to believe they are celebrating their 3rd anniversary over at the OVAM this weekend. They were busy! The Cafe was cookin and the sounds of racing were coming from the media room. Of course the Men usually congregate in there with the sports channels. Mom and I went on the hunt. Just to let you know how large this mall is it takes at least 3 hours just to walk thru......that doesn't include going back to vendor booths you mark to come back to, going down the two center aisles that cross the width of the building, or browsing  the 5 aisles of locked cases!!! You all need to come to town and we could make a day of it..they're open 9a-9p hehehe...
Well, we were quite happy with our vintage finds..................................

I found a bag filled with vintage wooden embroidery hoops in various sizes and another filled with vintage fabric peices. This is a little tease as to what I'm doing with them. When finished I'll show them and they'll be avalable on my Etsy site.

These two hankies are vintage from the 40's, but they are in pristine condition. I have a few ideas for these beauties. I got to thinking for those of you that do paper projects these two images would  make cute cards or something. Feel free to copy and save them.

This 1930-40 hankie  was a must have. I love the colors, but the

hand-tatted edging is so intricate. I can't wait to see what it becomes.

No, really, I have no idea ....right now I just like looking at it. That's the fun of vintage finds.

The rick-rack was real surprise. It  was in a basket in a tangle of other materials. I'm not sure how old this is, but I can envision it around the bodice or waist of a turn-of-the-century lace and  layers of billowy sheer fabric an ankle length dress.

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I  love this 1940-50 tablecloth. You can't tell in this picture, but it was well used and worn. It will be happily repurposed into a myriad of other designs.

Here are a couple of close-ups

And, now, the peice-de-resistance

A 1950-60 Knott's Berry Farm Apron! In excellent condition...it's like new! This does not need any embellishment or stitches. It's going right up on my Apronation Etsy site.

Wow, what a good weekend! Did you go a-huntin? Find any vintage goodies?
Since it's another Red Letter day, I'm linking this post to Susan's Blog over at It's a Very Cherry World for her Rednesday. I know some of the items aren't all red, but the splashes of red that they have make the very cherry.....er.....cheery!  Now I'm off to visit some other red hot sites thru here .
Have a Happy Day!
Melody