Vintage Waverly Fabric Book & the Drapes of My Childhood

Published on April 27, 2010 :: No Comments

We bought this vintage Waverly fabric swatch book at auction recently.  It was a true impulse buy.  I had not even seen it on preview.  But when the floor person was holding it up for bid, and flipping through some of the pages, I caught a glimpse of my childhood.

It’s funny, but if you asked me what the drapes in the living room looked like from when I was 5 until I was about 17, I could not have told you.  But when I saw the fabric it was a *zing* moment – I knew exactly what it was.  And I didn’t even really like the drapes (or dislike them, for that matter) but I feel a fondness for the fabric now simply as a touchstone, a memento.

So we bought the book.  Then I was walking through our antique shop in Hudson one day, taking pictures.  I thought it might be cute to take a few shots of the great vintage patterns … and then I couldn’t stop!  There was something I just loved about photographing these textiles.  So I took a bunch, and saved them to share with you here.

Thank you for indulging my little walk down memory lane.  And who knows, maybe your childhood drapes are here too!

“Fabriganza” — you’ve gotta love it.

Wow – the array of so-called toile above takes my breath away.  And not really in a good way.

These, on the other hand, I love.

Mmmm…indigo.  And batik.  What more could you want?

So which one is the drape fabric, you ask.  When we moved into the house I mostly grew up in, in 1971, the large living and dining room was carpeted in a sea of royal blue.  I don’t know if the curtains came with the house or if my mom picked them to match the carpet, but here’s the fabric, in all its pseudo-Williamsburg-revival glory:

Kind of anti-climactic, I know.  But the variety of color, pattern and texture in this book is a real treat for the eyes.  And don’t you find that it evokes the era in your mind, just by looking?  Hope you enjoyed it!