Vintage Floral Fabric Week Day 5 - Ode to Grandmas everywhere

I have a number of fabric that I have collected over the year that I have loving coined my 'Grandma series'. These are fabrics that make me think of furniture, curtains, or tablecloths that if not in my own grandparent's comfortable warm rooms are in someone's. Here are two of the fabrics (one in the form of a coin purse that I made): Side note:
I have another very pretty floral fabric that I found a number of month ago. I would not have naturally included this fabric in my grandma series. The funny part is that last time that I went home to visit my family, I realized that this was the same fabric (slightly different color) that was used for the curtains in my grandma's bedroom. I had never noticed it before.

Vintage Floral Fabric Week Day 2

Part of the reason that I like floral fabric so much is my background in Horticulture. It creates the illusion that I am still using my degree. It makes me feel better to think that all that money was not spent in vain. I know that is a stretch but allow a girl to grasp at whatever straws are available.

In truth, I think that there are a lot of really ugly or boring floral prints out in the world but I really like this one. I think that it might be a bit much as curtains or covering a couch but in small doses I think it is quite nice.

Vintage Floral Fabric Week (aka The holidays are over. Time to get back to work)

I have come to realize that I am not the world's best blogger. Ok Ok... I am really bad about it. The first thing to admit is that you have a problem then try to change. This year my goal is to be better about blogging. (I realize that we are already 3 weeks into the year but that is not the point.) I decided to start off with another fabric week. I like showing off all the cool fabric that I am luck to come across.

This week I am going to show you some of my vintage floral prints. Bare with me, the photos are not that great because I use natural light and it is January in Portland. Not the sunniest time of the year.


The first fabric is a really pretty lavender and blue floral. This fabric is dated 1971. (I love when they have the date on fabric.) I think that this will make a really pretty bag. It would also make nice curtains but the walls in my room are orange. With a lot of confidence I might be able to fool people into thinking this is a good combo but I doubt it.

Fabulous Fabric Week: The Muumuu

This fabric is actually a piece of clothing that I tore apart. I think it was either a vintage muumuu or maybe a robe. All of the seams were coming apart but the fabric itself was still in really nice condition. I really love the color combination of purple, blue and green. As a bonus, the fabric has a nice texture due to the raised diamond pattern. I like how the pattern looks like molecules or some kind of futuristic flower. Unfortunately the picture does not really do it justice but it is all I have so it will have to do. You get the idea.

Fabulous Fabric Week: Retro Turtles Wearing Ties

What can I say. I am a sucker for cute things. I just can not help it. This fabric is a retro print of turtles with a polka dot shell wearing a necktie. Yes, these are turtles are all business. Did I mention that it is printed on corduroy? Corduroy in my opinion is one of the cutest fabric out there. It just screams to be made into a little jumper. Sadly I have no need for a child's size jumper and I am not sure that I am bold enough to make a jumper for myself. I have (for now) resigned myself to using this fabric to make bags. Maybe I will be lucky and soon someone will come to me in desperate need of a jumper. One can only hope.

Fabulous Fabric Week: A Delicate Bird

I have been seeing birds everywhere for the last year. Personally, I am getting a little tired of them because I really hate overkill. Having said that, I think that this is a super sweet fabric. Since this is one of the few bird focused fabrics that I own, I do not feel bad about showing it off. This is actually a curtain so the material is very thin and gauze-like. Unfortunately there are sections that are a little faded but a lot of the pattern is still really nice. This is another fabric that I am saving for a great project. If anyone has any ideas about something I should make with this fabric, I am all ears.

Fabulous Fabric Week: Vintage Babies

I saw this print and I just had to have it. I do not think that it is possible to find a fabric that is more cute. There is a baby holding a squirrel for goodness' sake. You can not get any cuter then that. I really do not have any plans for this fabric yet. Next time someone that I know gets pregnant, I am sure that I will come up with an idea. In the meantime, I will just look at it and smile.

Fabulous Fabric Week: A Modern Floral

I have decided that this week I want to show off some of the great fabric that I have found during my searches. Since I only use second hand fabrics, I always get super excited about some of the great stuff I find. Today I want to show you one of my all time favorite prints. I found this print at SCRAP. I love the modern floral print and the color combination. Sadly there was only about a yard of material so I have to be selective about how I use it. I made a bag with it that I posted for sale on Etsy. It sold in one day all because of the power of an amazing print.
I only have a little bit of the fabric left and my sister, Lindsay, has requested that I make her a bag with it. She is lucky that she is my sister or I probably would have said no and kept it for myself. Since I do like her a lot I am willing to part with the fabric but with a small tear in my eye.