Vintage Dinnerware Retro Mix and Match

The style of any era is found in everything from clothing to furniture, automobiles and architecture. Blue jeans are made by just about all clothing houses and dinnerware trends, then as now, follow seasonal color. That is why you'll find the same color values in the 1940's, 1950's and 60's across many of the pottery houses. If you find one color or pattern is overwhelming or boring but you like a piece or shape of one element in a trend, you can tone it down or liven it up by pulling elements from another line to develope a fabulous look for your table settings. For example, here is a place setting of Old Ivory China, Syracuse Pattern which is rather formal.

We've pulled the beautiful handled soup bowl and liner plate to compliment a simple yet elegant Bavarian china plate with a fabulous detailed band for an entirely different look. Shifting Depression Glass Pink stemware for crystal stemware would be lovely. The values of purple and pink work together to bring 1910 to 1950. This combination works for dinner or a cozy dessert setting. Search local thrift and antique shops for small sets of salad plates, shallow coupe shape soup bowls and berry bowls. Handled soup bowls also make fabulous serving pieces for dips, glazes and sauces. Often they can be found with their liner plates or are easily matched with compliment saucers. Portions were smaller 100 years ago because dinner was served with more courses. You'll find an amazing variety of china in useful shapes. Put them to a contemporary purpose.


Eames Era Dinnerplates with a unique patterns such as the Greenbriar pattern made by Knowles in the 1950's, can be mixed with something brillant like the soup bowl and liner plate in the Malvern pattern Royal Doulton or another explosive pattern in compliment color.






The 1950's and early 1960's trended toward the aqua, teal and turquoise pallet. We enjoyed patterns like Temporama and Blue Heaven by Royal China, and variations of the wheat motif in the same medium blue values by other pottery houses. It's marvelous to mix stripes with subtle patterns if the hues are similar.




We found this teal and grey striped dinnerplate (the pattern is called Holiday) and mixed the pieces with a few other styles from the same era. The casual elegant look is pleasing.

Picking a neutral stoneware dinnerplate like the Harkerware dinnerplate below, and building accent above it opens up a few more opportunites to pull that unused china out of the cupboard and use it!







Marcrest is another pattern with an Eames theme and introduces black. The solid medium blue coffee cup is a little more intense in value than the aqua turquoise, but can work with black. Obviously we would mix the wheat feather look with Marcrest, but you get the idea of the value change.





Possibilities are endless! Keep an eye out for a hue or value and pull them into your design. Choose a color or two and focus on adding bits with the purpose of expanding your tableware without having to buy a brand new set. Be inventive!

Real Thrift Doesn't Mean Cheap! Vintage Linens

Lot's of folks consider themselves 'thrifty'. Maybe they are and maybe they aren't. Way back in the day, the word, 'thrift' meant buying something of value and quality for a reasonable price. Thrift, as I was taught back in the dark ages, is 'buy well, buy once.' We were taught to buy the best quality for the most you can afford because we intended to use it for a lifetime. Remember the quality of things back in the day? We still have bath towels made in the USA from the 1960's and use still use them. We still use dish towels from the 1950's made of linen and cotton to actually dry dishes, and as hand towels in the bathroom. The thread count is high and the quality of the cotton and linen last forever because the fibers are longer and the yarn is thicker.   I've seen the new 'vintage look' cotton toweling in the market today, distributed by MODA, and sadly, the quality and expected life span of that stuff is hardly up to snuff. The fiber used in the yarn is short and the weave is not as tight or thick compared to fabrics from the 50's and earlier.

Tablecloths of cotton and linen are wonderful! Good solid fabric with and without printed designs from the mid-century are beautiful and useful. I still use tablecloths from the 1930's and 1940's of wonderful, thick cotton; some of which have a lovely woven damask pattern. The key to long life for tablecloths is to soak them immediately for any serious stain. Cornstarch rubbed into a grease stain and allowed to absorb the grease overnight will usually take care of that problem before washing. It might take a couple of applications, but it will work.  Launder tablecloths in cool water and rinse twice to make sure all the detergent is washed out. Pull them out of the dyer while they are still a little damp. Shake them out gently and hang or drape them to dry completely. Good fabric won't really need ironing. A soft, crisp hand can be achieved in the dryer and removing them before they are completely dry will prevent the fibers from shrinking and becoming brittle over time. If you do iron tablecloths, do so when they are lightly damp and use a moderate temp on the iron.  Over-ironing will flatten the fibers and creasing the fabric with heat will eventually split the fibers.  No starch is necessary and actually can be harmful.  Storing linens finished with high heat and starch is a great invite to silverfish and other creatures who to consume the cellulose as a food source.

There are many things you can do with an old tablecloth, especially if it's heavy cotton. The average kitchen towel is about 16 inches wide and 24 to 26 inches in length. It's simple and thrifty to make some fabulous kitchen towels out of an old tablecloth. Just cut out sections from the areas that still good, fold the edges over twice and stitch in place. That's the thrifty alternative to tossing out perfectly good fabric and spending your hard earned money on a new, lesser quality contemporary replacement for kitchen towels. The leftover pieces are still useful as cleaning rags, adding thickness to quilts and patching other tablecloths.

Fabulous cotton napkins from days gone by, are a perfect alternative to reams of paper napkins and their contemporary polyester cousins. Polyester is a petroleum product and as such, latches onto oil stains like salad dressing and sauces made with butter and oil. They don't wash out which is why the cheaply made polyester napkins are never a bargin at any price. Cotton and linen, as natural fibers let go of stains like oil and look great year after year. No need to iron them if you pull them out of the dyer while still slightly damp. Just straighten them and let them finish air drying. And the key to removing stains, just like for all cotton and linen, is to soak them immediately so the stain has no chance of setting. Fancy or casual, natural fiber napkins will last a good long time.

It's easy to find clean, good quality linens online at etsy, (our specialty) and other local specialty shops too. No need to pay retail for lesser quality which have probably been made in China and have poorly finished hems. Thrift means more than the price paid for something. It means buying quality for the use of a lifetime.

Be sure to stop in http://www.teaworkscottage.etsy.com/ for some fabulous linens at truly thrifty prices.