For this little top I used two vintage cloth books published in the UK by Dean’s Rag Book Co. The company began in 1903 producing small books printed on muslin that they advertised as “safe and washable” for baby. Later they expanded into stuffed bears and cloth dolls. Dean’s Rag Books were still being made…
Nashua Telegraph January, 1942
As promised, I have scanned a few of my green Depression fabrics. Some of these tend a little more blueish, while others are more yellow, but none of them are very Christmasy looking. Even so, they’re pretty great. Brenda just asked me how many of the prints are feedsacks, so I thought I would add…
It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed any of my vintage fabric. In honor of Christmas, here are some little samples (2″ x 2″ sections) of vintage Depression dress fabrics in red. Tomorrow. . . .green.
This is an item I purchased on ebay ages ago, and although it was advertised as a tablecloth, I thought it might actually be a quilt top. I was wrong, though, because it is hemmed all around, it’s only one layer (so probably not meant to be a summer spread), and the seams are finished on…
This cute Bernina was produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I found it at the Goodwill, hiding inside a nondescript sewing machine cabinet. The power cord was missing, so I couldn’t try out the motor, but it was only $20 and I could always return it if it didn’t work. When I got…
In honor of Mary Blair’s Birthday, I thought I would show you this Disney record I purchased for its fabulous Mary Blair cover. I’m a big fan of Mary Blair, and I love the design of the Small World ride (both the outside and the inside), but that song drives me crazy. We got stuck…
This little purse (which I mentioned in an earlier post about beading) was a Christmas gift to my mother from her Aunt Emma in 1930. I still have the note that her aunt placed inside the bag, which reads: Dear Marjorie, I wonder if you would like an old keepsake for Christmas. I have had…
On our way back to tiny Bluff, Utah after hiking down to the Natural Bridges, we stopped at a second-hand shop in Blanding. We have visited a couple of antique shops on this trip, but none of them had sewing items. This store is called Transitions, and it provides vocational rehab to all of the…
The seller of this top thought it was made more recently than the other antique quilts at the estate sale she attended. The brightness of the double pink and poison green prints does make it look newer than quilts made with darker fabrics from this period. The top is 76″ x 80″, and is in…
This scrappy quilt top was purchased last year on ebay. It is entirely hand pieced with vintage dress fabrics (no feedsacks), and measures a generous 68″ x 86″ with finished squares measuring 1″. I really like the random selection of prints and colors and, although I have spent a fair amount of time looking at…
When I was growing up, we lived in a traditional two-story house built in the 1920s, where you walked right into the living room with no foyer. The living room and separate dining room were large, but they were the only public areas of the house. When I was a teenager we moved from Oklahoma…
Here is something I really appreciate — for over 80 years, some nice person kept together every item of this quilt in progress. Large pieces of the colored fabrics were included, as well as a tiny illustration from a Lockport leaflet and a hand-colored drawing by the quilter. Apparently, the quilter had just that tiny…
