Wednesday 13 June 2012

Designing Women Exhibition - 50s fabricos

Sadly I don't think that I will be able to get to this exhibition..http://www.ftmlondon.org/exhibitions/detail/?ID=75 which will show many of my favourite fabrics.  I thought about this for a while and then realised  hang on a cotton pickin' minute we can put the show on right here!

Note how the curator did not steam press the fabrics before they went on to display - shameful really - you would have thought they would put a little effort into it!


The curator was a little miffed that the original price label that has been on this fabric finally fell off! This is of course a Marian Mahler fabric - waiting to made into something else (has been waiting a few years...)



The fabric below is very, very similar in layout as the one above but they are different with different vases and objects.  Both are marvellouso and I am waiting for the day we finish decorating the front room to begin the chopping and making process (gulp!).  I think that either one or both of these are Marian Mahler.  The one below is particularly striking, all unused and bright, bright colours - though I have lots and lots of it I cannot bear to make the first chop (the first cut is the deepest - sing along at the back.....)





This one I have seen as being sold by Marian Mahler but I don't think that it is - these are a pair of curtains but too small for our windows..The little cat vase used to live in Maille's red bedroom - since reclaimed as mine! Nice pattern all the same (I am tempted to do a posting just on vase fabrics...or novelty fabrics...or seaside fabrics..or...)



The fabric above I think is Sylvia Chalmers - this is definitely going to be made into cushions as the colours will suit the front room perfectly...when done.....
Above is Lucienne Day's Herb Antony - not my favourite but good colours.


Dear Mary from The Vintage Cottage sent me this gift of extraordinarily wonderful ORIGINAL Marian Mahler fabric in the more unusual green colour - I have not forgotten about it Mary and it is waiting patiently for its cushion making chance to shine.  I love it very much Mary

Above is Mary White's Cottage Garden - I love its modernness and freshness.  I have posted pictures of my lampshade made from this before and so here I will show our chaise longue that I bit the bullet and had recovered a couple of years ago (it resides at the end of our bed and mostly gets used for sorting the piles of socks out on...not a great deal of reclining takes place!!!).  The seat itself was bought from Crystal Palace auctions (when it used to be in the old train station years ago) and  it too waited patiently to be recovered....


I use every last scrap of fabric so some was used to make a little purse


I tried to sell this on e**y but no success, I must have given it away I think because I have no idea where it is now...oh dearie me I wish I had it use...



I love it when designs go together - an old flickr picture of mine showing Maille's 1950 rubbish bin that goes very nicely with some more Marian Mahler fabric.
I have stuck to the 'exhibition' brief and not strayed into different decades  or indeed genders- a bit difficult for me to be restrained.  I may do other posts on fabric designers across the last century!

Exhibition only open for a very short period - one day in fact.  Oh, now closed....

10 comments:

  1. Loved your exhibition, especially the matching crockery. Hope you do another one soon it would be great to view your favourite ever vintage finds... I go to the Bristol carboot sale every week with so much hope, but vintage finds are becoming much more rare these days. I bought a tiny scrap of fabric last week for 10p the size of a handkerchief, woohoo!

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    1. Hi Catherine - come down to our neck of the woods - too much stuff for my own good. Bed slowly being lifted off the floor with the amount of stuff underneath it! I have posted on Flickr something that I made with an old handkerchief only the other day!

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  2. Love it! And your ability to find matching crockery for every piece is fabulous, it was a top quality exhibition Jenny! x

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    1. Indeed Rachel - it was quite a success, people waiting at the door to come in!!

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  3. An excellent exhibit!! I hope the curator's salary will be doubled (despite her steam iron neglect). Love all the red backgrounds -
    thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thank you Vicki K - I will pass your kind words on to the curator (she has been after a pay rise for some time!!)

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  4. You have the most stonking collection of fabric - my eyes nearly popped out! Love them all and in love with your 'objets' too. Brilliant stuff.

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    1. Thank you....some people.....not too far away from me....might say we have too many 'objets'!!!

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  5. Oh my what a fantastic collection of fabric you have to exhibit, what a treat!! As for for the chaise longue... just stunning Jenny! smiles Cass

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  6. I came across your 2+ year old blog post as I was researching a piece of fabric I have. It's the same as those curtains that are too small for your windows and that you have seen attributed to Marian Mahler but don't think that it is. The selvage on my fabric reads "A Sunlover Fabric" with the word Sunlover in script. I found several references to the pattern/fabric as David Whitehead but that still doesn't enlightened me to the designer. If you have discovered whose design it is, I'd appreciate knowing. Best regards, Jan b.

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