When I bought a box of fabric at an auction a while back there was a individual bag of fabric in the box. I set the bag aside thinking that I wanted to give it a good look at a later date as what I saw from the outside, I loved.
The fabrics are somehow different. I don’t really know how to explain it. The colors are SO much more vibrant. They don’t really feel like a feed sack fabric but not quite like modern quilting cotton. Although I am sure they are cotton.
Here’s a closer up picture of the fabrics once the package was opened.
Do any of you have any idea or more information on the fabric?
The entire gallon bag Ziplock is stuff to the top but I’m still not sure if that would be enough fabric for a quilt.
I know…I know…if I didn’t always make GIANT quilts there would be enough for a quilt.
I’m hoping one of you who is smart about dating fabric might know more about it and maybe I could find a few cuts on ebay or something. If nothing else, I’d just like to learn more about it. Best of all…it’s not musty smelling. So please one of you fabric sleuths, tell me more!!
Looks like the fifties cotton patterns. I had a bright yellow poodle skirt made from a similar fabric
It does look 50s /60’s to me also. That red/white check on bottom right with daisies on it, daisies were popular in the 60’s. On the other hand, could be 30’s. I have a friend who is a quilt appraiser. I might send her your blog and see if she can put a light to it. I think I would cut the whole lot into same size squares and make a trip around the world or just sew the squares together for a fun baby quilt.
Some of it looks like 70s to me – the shade of orange and the flower scale and style.
I was thinking more 70s fabric. Think prairie dresses.
I’m thinking 70’s also. I’m especially looking at that blue eagle print. Remember the nation’s bicentennial in 1976? There were lots of patriotic prints. I had some eagle print wallpaper in my living room.
I sold fabric in the 70’s and they were prints pre quilt craze time. Many are more than likely VIP from Cranston. They are no longer in business.
Hello Jo. This is 1980’s fabrics. Calicoes. Some of these fabrics were made into the early 1980’s. I hope this helps.
Yes , these are prints from the 70’s. Cotton fabric was hard to find, not much available. I made a tree skirt (that I still have and love) using some of these exact fabrics.
cotton/poly from the 70’s early 80s. That fabric never fades and lasts forever!
I remember buying fabric similar to your when I was in high school, think 1970 – 1976. I still remember purchasing it at Ben Franklin.
@Chris Wells, Walmart carries Cranston VIP fabric and the company is still open.
I remember some of these from the 70’s and purchasing at Ben Franklin.
I would say 70’s to 80’s also. I made maternity tops, stuffed animals, and curtains out of similar fabrics during those years.
70’s and early 80’s I’m thinking. I still have a few pieces from that era that look very similar. Not sure they are 100% cotton though. Lot of fabric from that time were 50/50 cotton/polyester. This may sound crazy but I have found that if there is polyester in a fabric, when it is ironed there is a distinct odor from the polyester that is not noticeable in a 100% cotton fabric. Also, the colors tend to be brighter.
I don’t know about the fabric, but I know that under your hands and needle, it’s going to be a wonderful quilt! I’d probably add some solids or neutrals and let the amount of fabric I had dictate the size of the quilt. Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Whatever era it came from, lucky you to have found it! I’m here in Oregon wanting to touch all of those pretty prints!
I’m thinking 70’s also and those fabrics are a much looser weave than current quilting fabrics. They would still make a nice smaller quilt, but be prepared for it to shrink considerably when washed due to the thread count.
They remind me of the peasant blouses and triangular head scarves I made in the 70s.
I had some of those fabrics – I especially recognize a green that I bought at Woolworth’s to make Barbie clothes in the mid-60’s. Several others were bought in the late 60’s and early 70’s and ended up in my quilts and quilt stash. (There’s a red and yellow print in that last photo that I used in a quilt I cut most of the pieces for in 1975)
And your description of the feel of them sounds right for what was available for ‘calico’ back then – before the quilt craze got going in the wake of the Bicentennial.
Hey Jo – I do not know what era this fabric is from – but I immediately thought “calico”. When I googled, I found some fabrics that looked similar so if you decide you need a few more – that might be a good starting point. Good Luck – I am sure it will be great!
I used to have several of those fabrics, until I had to leave my stash behind 6 months ago, for a cross-country move. (Sigh! I miss my stash!) I also think they’re from the 70s, and are by Cranston Print Works. They should be 100% cotton, but you can always check for polyester with a burn test.
I think 70’s also. I started quilting then and it looks familiar. Hard to believe it was so many years ago and considered “old” now.
I bought fabric like this in the early to mid 70s to make my first quilt.
I recognize some of those prints and I had them way back when. I’m going to say early to mid-1970s. I probably still have a few stray pieces of some of them left in my stash.
These look very similar to the scraps I took to my first quilt class (late 70’s, I think), when I knew nothing about quilts or quilting! They were scraps from sundresses I made for my daughters … probably poly/cotton. We made a variety of small quilted projects. I still have a cushion cover I made with those scraps in a Dresden Plate design. I wish I still had the “puff” quilt tote bag I made (and actually used) … wow, that was ugly! We also made a little Cathedral Window wall hanging, a potholder, a sample of a quilt-as-you-go log cabin, and various other items. Your ‘new’ fabrics would make a cute baby quilt!
No idea of age…. but think they would look great as a child’s quilt…. you know not giant.
It is late 70’s early 80’s. I still have scraps of almost all of those.
Hi Jo, Just wondering where you have your quilt books made with spiral spines.
Enjoy all the quilts you make and the ones your going to make. I have so many ideas that my hands can’t sew as fast as my mind.
Keep stitching
Linddylou
The prints would look very good paired off with white in HST or shashing. That would add more fabric to make a bigger quilt. Should be pretty to see them all together. Have fun, Jo, coming up with a pattern.
Oh that bag of fabrics sure brings back memories. They look like the fabrics my mom used to make shirts for me when I was little. I was born in 1964, so, I’d say that they are probably from the late 60’s or early 70’s.
Virginia
Clearbrook MN
I am not sure about the fabric. But I must tell you I made that cheesy ham soup today and my family thought it was delicious. Thanks so much for the recipe. I am going to try the ham and scalloped potatoes next.
Linddylou, you can get your books spiral bound at Staples for $5. I have done it with some of my Bonnie Hunter books and a sewing machine instruction book.
We had fabric in the 70’s and 80’s called kettle cloth–a cotton poly that wore like iron. I use it in my mixed up quilt strips and what have you and it doesn’t seem to hurt anything and the colors never fade! Out of curiosity–someone–Sally? said they were from Oregon. How many Oregonians are out there following Jo? Count me as one!
Sears catalog had cotton fabric, 36” wide, that looked just like these prints. I have used up my last scrap of the fabric. I think my mother bought it in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. I think that all calicos were 40” wide in the 70’s.
Fabric is from the late 70’s and early 80’s… I agree. I also seem to remember it being 36 inches wide?
As many have mentioned…60’s and 70’s fabrics.
Peter Pan fabrics (owned by Henry Glass,,does that sound familiar in today’s fabrics?) was a common manufacturer as well as VIP. I remember paying almost $3 a yard for some VIP calico (Cranston) in 1972. A scary amount of money at the time.
Marcus Brothers in New York began in 1911 and changed their name to Marcus Fabrics in 2007.
Cranston Print Works (Rhode Island Co) has a centuries long history in New England. In 1920 it was named Cranston Print Works.
Spring Mills, a Massachusetts based mill, began in 1850 and still makes fabric today.
FYI I have several pieces of this type of fabric…some in yardage.
Hello from the cold frozen north (Canada) If you burn a snippet of fabric with a match and the ashes are soft and fluffy it usually means the fabric is cotton. If it is hard and crunchy it usually means it is polyester.I know if this is a universal rule.
My very first thought was 70’s, Holly Hobby calico dresses and prairie bonnets!
Jo – the feel of the fabric might just be the sizing that is sometimes added when it is manufactured.
If it is older fabric, the type of sizing might be different from today.
Congrats of the 4 year anniversary of the house! There can’t be much left to do. Although I don’t believe that we’ve seen the basement. :>)
I made my first (tied) quilt out of these fabrics. My mom, who really wasn’t a sewer, made Raggedy Ann dolls for her 4 daughters & many of her nieces. She bought quite a number of these prints for the doll dresses. I cut the scraps into 3-1/2” squares & sewed them into a twin size quilt. I still have the quilt. This was way before rotary cutters. I drew around a cardboard square to mark the cutting line & cut the squares out with scissors. We used my great grandmother’s treadle sewing machine. I wish I had that machine.
Thanks for bringing back such great memories.
I love following your blog.
I began quilting in high school. Graduated in 1977…ugh~
fabrics are from the 70’s
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