I love old textiles, especially when they can still be used for their original purpose. One of the most fun to thrift are vintage tea towels (also known as kitchen towels or hand towels.) Here's one that's not particularly old but that I loved the minute I saw it because of the unusual color and print. The tag doesn't give away any info, but I'll guess this was sold at a store like Target.
Here's a pretty 2024 calendar towel that I thrifted a few weeks ago. It's in very good condition with lovely graphics.
It's also 100% linen, which is getting hard to find these days, as most stores sell cheaper cotton towels.
It was designed by French artist Isabelle Boinot, whose work is not cheap, either.
This is a huge tea towel I thrifted in mint condition. Sadly most people don't use tea towels these days, preferring paper towels that don't have to be washed. I'm the opposite; I'd rather use something I can wash and reuse.
Vallesusa is an Italian brand, and has a lot of neat products.
Sometimes I find tea towels that are very old but that have never been used. That is the case with this lovely old linen charmer I found at my favorite junk shop, which still had the pricetag attached to it. I paid a dollar for it, and I thought it had likely sat in a drawer for forty or fifty years. Here's the exact same towel for sale on Etsy for much more $$$, and the listing says it dates back to the 1960's.
Yes, nothing dries like linen -- and look at the original price!
If you want to find and use some vintage tea towels for your kitchen or textile art, try checking the towel and linens section at your local thrift store. Very often they'll be piled in boxes with pillowcases, bath towels and such. Handwash them first (some of the cheaper/more modern towels can bleed dyes) but if they don't shed fibers or get frayed they're probably fine to throw in the washer after that.*
100% linen are the best and last the longest, and tend to be cheaper than cotton towels because most people don't realize how wonderful they are. If you want to use them for slow stitch or quilting, they make wonderful and very durable foundation fabric and patchwork. I use vintage textiles all the time in my art quilting, and will likely make the Italian apple towel as the center block for an apple-theme quilt.
*Any vintage textile of value should always be appraised, cleaned and conserved by a professional service, and to preserve its value should be used for display purposes only.
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