From the Collection - HEAL's TABARD

Like many people who are into collecting, there is the special collection. This is the stuff I hang onto or what I call 'The Retirement Fund'. I have a large collection of mid century textiles, I just love them.
This one is a Heals London by Dinah Marsh. Late 60's. It's in excellent condition but it did have stitched selvedges. I do unpick stitching on my fabrics and press before storing them.
I store my fabrics in acid free tissue and soft fold them to prevent permanent creases. This is really important if you are storing acetates, silks and brocades. You can create nasty hard to remove creases if you don't store properly. I also store all my fabrics in a linen press or hall cupboard. My house is a 60's one so it has the good hall linen presses. (the rule now is if it doesn't fit in the hall press, it has to go) and I take them out and refold every 6 months or so, again, this is to prevent permanent creases and age spots. It's a good idea to air textiles every now and again. Plastic boxes are ok for short term storage, but fabrics need to breathe.

Barkcloth

I have a bit of a thing for barkcloth. The prints are wonderful and there is something about that era that I love in home textiles.
As I have been purging my stash of late, yes, I am a crazy fabric lady, I have been coming across some pieces I have forgotten about.

This is a Heals London from the late 1950's. I have about 6mts of this one, Its a double faced print barkcloth....its printed both sides in a mirrored version so the fabric has 2 right sides.

The top and bottom ones are Heals from the 50's as well. The blue one is a Waverly from the USA.

It's funny unpacking all this stuff. I forget I have them, but some have made it to my couch over the years.

Gearing Up for the Next Market

Well it's the process starting again....getting ready for the next run of markets.
Unpacking and folding, pressing, sorting and pricing piles of fabric for you guys to do wonderful and interesting stuff with. And speaking of the wonderful stuff that you do with these fabrics....if you have done things, please send me a photo. I'd love to see these fabrics come to life.
I have had some of these fabrics in my possession since I was 13 years old...(do the math, thats a LONG time ago) I remember buying my first piece...from Clegs when it was still in Geelong.  It was a very elaborate burgundy paisley cotton. Long gone now. I made a terrible 1980's style dress out of it. My sewing skills were not so good back then! And my tastes have changed since then too!
Here is a taster of some fabrics coming your way...Enjoy