February’s vintage gold!

27 Feb

It was worth getting up on those cold, grey mornings and to be out of the house by 7:30 to get to the car boot, look at all this loveliness:

I dug deep for this one it was well hidden away at the bottom of a big pile, I almost shrieked when I found it!  It is quite orange and pink and has been put to good use already, appearing in a number of stars for my Oh My stars quilt.

Vintage sheet - orange floral

This fabric was attached to a plain pink sheet as a valance/bed skirt?  Is that the right term?  The pink sheet was not in great condition and has gone in the textiles recycling bag (seriously it will go to the charity shop for them to sell to the textiles bank).  But the skirt bit I’ve kept, I think it’s 100% cotton and I love the little print.

Vintage floral bed skirt

This is a print from a pair of curtains that I couldn’t resist!  They’re in great condition, wouldn’t fit or go in our kitchen but I’d so love to make something with them.  Any suggestions?

Vintage curtains

Nothing too exciting but pink pillowcases are useful:

Vintage pillowcase - pink floral

This was a delight to my eyes, one of the vendors I visit had these thrown up on the fencing by the side of his van, I saw them from across the market place, I resisted running to look but pulled them down pretty quick.  To be honest I think he had been using them to cover/wrap the furniture in the van, they were hanging with some pretty rough looking blankets.  But he agreed to sell them to me, two double sheets in a print I’ve not seen before.

Vintage sheet - orange/yellow floral

The same week there was bits of pieces of fabric, unused just chucked, so I picked up this gorgeous soft flannel, quite a big piece, big enough to back a baby quilt:

IMG_2276

Also this piece of Laura Ashley fabric, again unused, selvedges intact.  Some one will recognise it I’m sure, please shed light on it if you can.  It feels like a home decor rather than dressmaking weight…

Laura Ashley fabric

You may have seen this print before, way back I think last summer I found a pillowcase in this print, I think I sold/gave it away but I found a pair of curtains in the same fabric!  St Michaels (now Marks and Spencers) again in excellent condition.

Vintage St Michaels curtains

There was also a width of red corduroy, a fine, wale cord, which might just become a pair of trousers for Leah using Cecilia’s pants pattern.  I won the pattern (are you surprised?) on Jennifers blog Un Petit Design, you can read her pattern review here.  I was able to choose which pattern I wanted and I’ve already got a few of them and thought this would be good as it’s unisex and good for both Leah and Mathias.

Red corduroy

The following week I found this pillowcase:

Vintage pillowcase - blue floral

I had 2 of these in pink, they’e just about used up now, it was a delight to find this as I don’t come across much blue.

This next sheet is a pink/brown version of the yellow/orange ones above, only one of this one but it is lovely, with a Dorma label on.

Vintage sheet pink/brown floral

The lovely Karen who blogs here and here, is a fellow mum at school, she visits the charity shops possibly more often than me and the other day at school passed on a pillowcase she had found. It’s a popular St Michaels one (Marks and Spencer) but I’ve used a lot of the one I have in the Oh My Stars quilt so was pleased to add this to my collection!

Vintage fabrics

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny morning I was ready to leave the house by 7:30 and a little voice called down the stairs ‘wait for me’ so I had a little helper in the form of Leah. Together we found this beauty:

Vintage Duvet cover

Today it is not sunny and the photo of this doesn’t show that the background is actually a pale yellow. I didn’t realise until I got home that it’s a duvet cover with a pale yellow back. It’s in great condition too.

I’m often undecided when it comes to pillowcases, they are often very worn and faded with little usuable fabric, this one however I didn’t hesitate to pick up:

Vintage Pillowcase

On checking the label when we got home I discovered that it was made in the USA, and it does look similar to fabrics I’ve seen in Jeni’s Etsy shop.

Lastly but not least when we were searching through the pile of fabric Kerry passed me this:

Vintage fabric

It’s cotton and not sheeting but quite a funky print and then I found another piece of it, I’m already thinking drawstring bags…

Somewhat keen to have some variety in my sheet collection I asked in a couple of flickr groups (here and here)  if anyone in the UK was interested in a FQ swap.  The only response I had was from Veronica in the USA, I’d really wanted to avoid swapping overseas because of the cost.  But I agreed and we picked fabrics from the others collection and posted them off, this is what arrived for me last week:

Vintage sheet fabric

I’m delighted with them, lovelier than expected, I’m especially delighted with this one:

Vintage sheet fabric

It’s not like any I’ve seen before and certainly nothing like anything I’ve seen in the UK.  Thanks very much Veronica.  If you are interested in swapping and in the UK I’d love to hear from you.

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3 Replies to “February’s vintage gold!

  1. Wow, that was quite the haul! Kerry’s trying to persuade me to test the waters at our local car boot, but I’ve seen the fights outside just trying to get parking, so I might have to build up to it lol The east end of Glasgow natives don’t play well with others over bargains 😉

  2. Your black and white LAURA ASHLEY fabric is late 1970s. I am sitting here in our study right next to the curtains that I made in the very late 1970s for the bedroom that I shared with my sister. I made the curtains(dark green on white) and she wallpapered the walls with the same pattern. Definitely Not dress fabric.

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