Like most of us, travel hasn’t really been on the agenda this year due to Covid restrictions and Covid caution.
I know for many folks it’s been tough to not get out to see relatives afar, and tough to forgo travel jaunts of every kind.
My own take on travel is to almost exclusively travel in my home state of Virginia, with a little travel further afield occasionally. Over 30 years ago I stopped flying to do my little part for global warming. So not going anywhere exotic hasn’t really hampered my year.
Not getting to see and experience Virginia on the other hand — that has been hard for me. Not only because the Old Dominion is so breathtakingly beautiful, and rich with complex history. But also because when I travel the state I also hit every source I can for scaring up new pieces for my Etsy Shop, Lady Virginia Vintage.
New-to-me (and to you) vintage and antique decorator fabric and textile scores are the lifeblood of my business. And even though I already have an enormous inventory of finds, the bulk of which aren’t even listed for sale yet, still…this addiction means I always am on the hunt for more, more, more!
Thus it was with a little bit of reluctance due to coronavirus worries mixed with a great deal of anticipation over the fabric possibilities that I decided to indulge in a little birthday getaway in late October. My aim was to keep it rural so that the population would be lower (even though, vexingly, more rural folks appear to not be wearing masks).
Well, long story short, I went to Charlottesville, Virginia for a French lunch outdoors, to Orange, County Virginia near James Madison’s Montpelier for wine on a perfect fall afternoon at Barboursville Vineyards, and stayed at The Inn at Meander Plantation, an 18th century home beautifully situated along the Robinson River in the countryside.
For the Love of Fabric
And all along the way I stopped at my various top-secret antique and vintage fabric and textile sourcing sites — mostly individuals from whom I routinely source (when they will part with something), and some auction scouts who score finds on my behalf. Masked up, I visited them for the latest hauls.
I also hit the occasional shop for antique shopping in general. It’s fun to be on the lookout as I have other things that I’m scouting for that I don’t sell — things for my house, particularly an 18th century step back cabinet and some more gilded mirrors.
But antique shopping is hit or miss as far as fabric and textiles are concerned, especially ones that are up my alley.
Yet just to confess…weirdly, even though I mostly focus my sourcing on decorator fabrics, I have a soft spot for grabbing up textile oddities that I don’t personally want to own, or decorate with myself, but somehow I just love curating them for others. Like, say, orange and brown 1970s pot holders with like, goofball mushrooms on them. Or an old Coppertone beach towel with the bare-bottomed baby (coming soon). Go figure — must be from being raised on That Girl, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, and The Bob Newhart Show!
I think that even though we all have our real heartfelt faves, if you love fabric, you just love textiles in general and even nutty finds are fun to bring to market!
Latest Fabric Finds
So…all that said, my latest finds (some of which have made it to the shop and others are coming soon…) include but are not limited to:
- Several new-to-me Scalamandré pieces in chintz, linen, and silk ranging from the 1940s to the 1960s.
- Four 1970s Flower Power café curtain panels that will rocket your 70s obsession to “11.” (coming soon)
- A glorious custom made 65″ round burnt orange floral chintz tablecloth.
- Four yards of “Mandalay,” a red and white Chinoiserie by the stand-out Irish firm Moygashel.
- An unrivaled 1950s Jofa titled “Chippendale Linen.”
- A 1960s oh-so-chartreuse linen by Schumacher called “Cotswold Forest.” Amazing!
- A sweet 1974 Greeff Fabrics strawberry linen fabric.
- A 1920s hand embroidered baby bib.
- Several juvenile fabrics including Raggedy Ann and Andy, Schumacher’s “Jungle Gym,” a vintage ballerina fabric, and some darling Colonial American people.
- And even three pieces of Robert Allen’s Ming Dragon in the Midnight colorway to join my persimmon piece. (Midnight is coming soon.)
Finally I also sourced two lovely full length curtain panels done in a Brunschwig et Fils Indienne chintz. (also coming soon)
In addition to these, I picked up some unique vintage napkins, pink and green silk plaid upholstery fabric, some more vintage Waverly fabric, other vintage fabric that I didn’t mention but that is perfect for your grandmillennial style, a couple of other vintage tablecloths, and a whole array of vintage Christmas cards just in time for the season.
We’re working every day to clean, iron, photograph, research, and get all the rest of these new vintage fabrics and textiles up for you as soon as possible. So let me stop blogging, and get back to my favorite thing — researching my fabric finds and bringing them to you.
Please visit my Etsy Shop today to see what’s new!
—Lady Virginia
