11.04.2010

luck

Last Saturday we drove about 2 hours to an antique mall, one we've been to before with mixed results. As you know, hunting for vintage treasure is one part hard work and another part luck. No amount of hunting will turn up something that isn't there. But, this time, I got lucky!

When I first spotted the two bags of fabric scraps I thought "1940s". I didn't even examine them that carefully—they looked good, the price was right, and into my basket they went. It wasn't until I got home later that evening and took them out of the bags that I realized I was off by about a decade. They're 1930s for sure. There's something about the designs from this era that I love. The florals, which can sometimes be too sweet in other time periods, usually have something geometric to jazz them up.

Like this orange floral with big yellow diamonds in the background—

1930s cotton print

The woman who saved these scraps had such similar tastes as myself that I love everything in these scrap bags! I wish I could show them all to you, but I'll limit myself to the very best ones. Most of these examples are fairly small scraps but there are some that are quite large—plenty of fabric to work with!

1930s cotton print
If I had yards and yards of this I could make all my fruit pot holders with this fabric on the back!

1930s cotton print
Diamonds

1930s cotton print
Navy blue floral

She really liked oranges, yellows, blues, and reds. One bag had lots of blue fabrics; the other was more orange and yellow. I wonder if there were more bags of different colors that someone grabbed before I got there!

10 comments:

Vicki W said...

What a fabulous find!

jenny allsorts said...

Great find! So what do you think you'll make with them?

{kimmymade} said...

What a wonderful find, Janet!! Enjoy it, and I can't wait to see what you make with it!

janet said...

I really don't know what I'll make yet. Some of the larger pieces would yield a tissue cozy or two, but I feel like I should do something more special than that. I haven't made a quilt for years—maybe that's the direction to go in?

Erica said...

Wow! What a killing! I love finding vintage fabric!
My problem is that when I find them, I keep them "for something really good" rather than using them.
When I go, someone is going to have a wonderful time going through my attic I'm sure!

iHanna said...

Such sweet patterns! Thanks for sharing, makes me smile to see such pretty things. :-)

Anonymous said...

Lovely...I especially love the first one.

K @ Aurora Blythe said...

What an incredible find! Thanks for letting us share in your joy of discovery with you! Fun post. =)

Unknown said...

It's hilarious how little things make us sooo happy...lol.
Great fabrics!

Laura said...

I don't remember how I first stumbled upon your blog months ago, but I remembered the flickr page of vintage fabrics. Wanting to revisit, I couldn't remember the name of your blog, then suddenly the other day it came to me out of nowhere. So one Google search later here I am! Thank you for documenting your beautiful collection of fabrics. So lovely!