I think I said a couple posts ago that I wasn’t going to buy any more tablecloths.
Ha ha! What a funny joke that was!
All my tablecloths have been sitting in the 5 bins they were packed in when I moved. I’ve started going through them and realizing I should probably catalog them, as I have found some good ones lately and I’m starting to forget which designs I have.
I found a couple of vintage Christmas tablecloths during an antique store shopping spree last weekend, which thrilled me because they are getting harder to find, and when I do find one, they are usually crazily overpriced. Well, the ones I found were sitting together in a locked glass case and I could see they were $20 apiece. Not bad – if they were in decent shape. I had the guy open the case, I did a quick inspection and noted a couple of stains, and assured myself that I could get the stains out. I still have to work on them a bit, but they turned out great.
When we got home, I told my husband how excited I was to find another couple of Christmas cloths. “I already have like 3 or 4!” I said.
When I went into the basement to find the other cloths, I realized I lied to my husband – and to myself. “Three or four” is actually more like twelve. I have a hard time resisting them when I come across them because the graphics on them evoke such wonderful feelings about the holiday times and from pictures I run across from time to time. I decided to break them all out and photograph them to document what I have and to share them all with you, of course.
First, I want to share my newest acquisition, which is a non-Christmas cloth. However, it IS a California Handprints cloth, so I was pretty excited to see it in a bin for a pretty awesome price. It seemed to have some brown stains on it, but I gave it a couple days’ worth of a soak and it’s as good as new.
I also found this adorable little card table cloth. Cherries are always a winner.
Obviously, I didn’t take the time to iron these tablecloths before I took a picture.
Life is just too short.
OK – now onto the Christmas cloths.
This first one is one of my absolute favorites because of the retro ornaments. It’s such a cheery cloth and I love how it looks.
This next one is very vibrant and is in perfect condition. It astounds me that some of these have escaped getting stained over the years of use. It’s always exciting to find one that looks brand new, as this one does.
So many of these old tablecloths have silver color on them, which has been worn away by washing or by people using Oxyclean to wash them with, which seems common with online sellers who don’t know how to handle vintage fabric.
This is another recent find. Perfect condition.
This next one is signed Francis Dearden and has some cute little whimsical Santas. I didn’t know anything about Francis when I bought this, and I still don’t know much about him. Google searches reveal that he was a textile designer in the 1950s, but that’s about all I can find. This “flying Santa” tablecloth seems to be a popular representation of his work. So if anyone has any info on Francis, I’m all ears.
I love the simplicity of the colors and the pinecones. It gives a cozy, wintery vibe.
This is a Luther Travis cloth – another person I don’t know anything about.
This next one is a little faded, and I was disappointed to see that a major stain (see arrow) on it. Either I never stain treated this one or this is from my own use. Either way, it went right into the sink to soak after this pic.
This last one is not a Christmas cloth, but it is a recent acquisition. I fell in love with the pale beige-colored fabric with the dainty daisies on it. It had a couple of dark yellow stains in some spots, so I soaked it for a few days, stain treated it, and repeated the process until the stains were gone. Here it is now:
The lighting makes it difficult to see the detail, so here is a closeup:
Darling, isn’t it?
When I do finally get my collection cataloged and photographed, I will be sure to share it here as well. Definitely won’t be happening until after the holidays, though.
If you have any vintage cloths to share, post them in the comments!
