A large piece of fine vintage unbleached pure linen fabric - never used
This is an unusual piece of fabric. It is pure unbleached linen, and probably dates from the early 50’s or slightly earlier. What is unusual about it is that it had been woven using two different weights of linen thread. The warp is soft and relatively loosely twisted, the weft is very fine and very tightly twisted. As the textile has been woven, the tight weft thread has wrapped around the looser warp and made a very finely and densely woven fabric which is something, weirdly, like an ultra-fine canvas. I’ve seen this method of using a loose warp and a tight weft in a pure linen fabric before, but only in very much coarser cloth used for the first layer of upholstery . For that coarser cloth, using a relatively unspun warp and weaving round it with a tightly spun weft was a way of making cheaper fabric for a purpose where it needed to be strong but wouldn’t be seen. This, however, is very fine, you can see the light through the weave, and was evidently for dressmaking. It has never been used and does contain sizing, so I cannot accurately predict what it will be like once the sizing is soaked out, however I would caution that French antique and vintage linen can be a nightmare to work with once you remove the sizing - historically all cutting, basting and embroidery was done whilst the sizing was still in - generally there is around a 3-6% shrink rate once the fabric is washed.
This is in almost perfect condition. At some point the roll it was on was exposed to water at the very edges, there are two or three watermarks. but no damage, no mould, it would have dried very quickly and has only left marks because the sizing is still in and the fabric is unbleached. In my experience these marks will come out. It is otherwise perfect. It measures 100cm wide by 318cm long.
Please click on the photos to open them up full-sized.’
To purchase, please contact me.
This is an unusual piece of fabric. It is pure unbleached linen, and probably dates from the early 50’s or slightly earlier. What is unusual about it is that it had been woven using two different weights of linen thread. The warp is soft and relatively loosely twisted, the weft is very fine and very tightly twisted. As the textile has been woven, the tight weft thread has wrapped around the looser warp and made a very finely and densely woven fabric which is something, weirdly, like an ultra-fine canvas. I’ve seen this method of using a loose warp and a tight weft in a pure linen fabric before, but only in very much coarser cloth used for the first layer of upholstery . For that coarser cloth, using a relatively unspun warp and weaving round it with a tightly spun weft was a way of making cheaper fabric for a purpose where it needed to be strong but wouldn’t be seen. This, however, is very fine, you can see the light through the weave, and was evidently for dressmaking. It has never been used and does contain sizing, so I cannot accurately predict what it will be like once the sizing is soaked out, however I would caution that French antique and vintage linen can be a nightmare to work with once you remove the sizing - historically all cutting, basting and embroidery was done whilst the sizing was still in - generally there is around a 3-6% shrink rate once the fabric is washed.
This is in almost perfect condition. At some point the roll it was on was exposed to water at the very edges, there are two or three watermarks. but no damage, no mould, it would have dried very quickly and has only left marks because the sizing is still in and the fabric is unbleached. In my experience these marks will come out. It is otherwise perfect. It measures 100cm wide by 318cm long.
Please click on the photos to open them up full-sized.’
To purchase, please contact me.
This is an unusual piece of fabric. It is pure unbleached linen, and probably dates from the early 50’s or slightly earlier. What is unusual about it is that it had been woven using two different weights of linen thread. The warp is soft and relatively loosely twisted, the weft is very fine and very tightly twisted. As the textile has been woven, the tight weft thread has wrapped around the looser warp and made a very finely and densely woven fabric which is something, weirdly, like an ultra-fine canvas. I’ve seen this method of using a loose warp and a tight weft in a pure linen fabric before, but only in very much coarser cloth used for the first layer of upholstery . For that coarser cloth, using a relatively unspun warp and weaving round it with a tightly spun weft was a way of making cheaper fabric for a purpose where it needed to be strong but wouldn’t be seen. This, however, is very fine, you can see the light through the weave, and was evidently for dressmaking. It has never been used and does contain sizing, so I cannot accurately predict what it will be like once the sizing is soaked out, however I would caution that French antique and vintage linen can be a nightmare to work with once you remove the sizing - historically all cutting, basting and embroidery was done whilst the sizing was still in - generally there is around a 3-6% shrink rate once the fabric is washed.
This is in almost perfect condition. At some point the roll it was on was exposed to water at the very edges, there are two or three watermarks. but no damage, no mould, it would have dried very quickly and has only left marks because the sizing is still in and the fabric is unbleached. In my experience these marks will come out. It is otherwise perfect. It measures 100cm wide by 318cm long.
Please click on the photos to open them up full-sized.’
To purchase, please contact me.