You don’t have to be a vintage linens connoisseur or expert to love them and use them in modern homes for decorating and practical uses. If you haven’t tried them before, get ready, you’ll fall in love when you start.

It can seem daunting at first, but just jumping in and buying something small and easy, like the gorgeous little Boudoir or Bolster pillow shams is a great start. Buy a few that you like to make a grouping and you’ll be smitten.

These lovely little gems are usually smallish pillow shams, cushion covers, baby shams or bolsters and very easy to fill by using pre made pillow forms, poly stuffing from craft stores or you can recycle old pillow or cushion filling you have. Usually one of a kind, an eclectic mix is exactly what you’re going for.

Use them to create a look, by scattering a group of different fresh crisp vintage linen or cotton shams in a bedroom, sun room, daybed or guest room. They look especially gorgeous on wicker furniture and add a lovely fresh unique look to any decor.

Below we have a display of a few of our bedroom linens on a daybed creating a fresh country theme with red and pink accents plus some cute JellyCat plush animals to finish this chic vintage look.

Day Bed with Vintage Linens

We have beautiful cleaning solutions, linen sprays, pillow mists and storage products to get your linens crisp and beautiful, as well as smelling Summer fresh and properly stored when not being used.

Freshen Linens with Sprays

To learn more about European Vintage Linens, take a look at our information page that has a wealth of knowledge from our experts who lived in Europe for 35 years and personally buy, hand pick and bring back everything we have, direct from European estates, private homes and village markets all over Europe.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need us to make selections for you, groupings or need volume linens for bed and breakfasts, decorating, staging and displays. We can always help.

Enjoy !

Wikipedia definition:

The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns such as brocade, damask, and matelasse. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order… The sequence of raised and lowered threads is what creates the pattern. Each hook can be connected via the harness to a number of threads, allowing more than one repeat of a pattern….. Modern jacquard looms are controlled by computers in place of the original punched cards, and can have thousands of hooks.

Austrian Jacquard hand loom, end of 19th century, National Museum of textile Industry, Sliven, Bulgaria

Close up of a loom

Originally the Jacquard machines were mechanical, and the fabric design was stored in a series of punched cards which were joined together to form a continuous chain. The Jacquards often were small and only independently controlled a relatively few warp ends. This required a number of repeats across the loom width. Larger capacity machines, or the use of multiple machines, allowed greater control, with fewer repeats, and hence larger designs to be woven across the loom width.

Not everyone loved this new invention however. His loom was not so revered by master weavers for they believed their jobs would become obsolete since complicated weaving could now be done by less skilled weavers. In protest many weavers destroyed numerous Jacquard looms and even threatened to kill him. In spite of this opposition the Jacquard loom gained widespread use throughout France. By 1812 there were 11 000 looms in use.

Jacquard weaving makes possible in almost any loom the programmed raising of each warp thread independently of the others. This brings much greater versatility to the weaving process, and offers the highest level of warp yarn control. This mechanism is probably one of the most important weaving inventions as Jacquard shedding made possible the automatic production of unlimited varieties of pattern weaving

The gorgeous result are vibrant linens, with a woven design rather than printed, and with incredible color depth.  See for yourself in these examples (and there are many, many more)

Olive Oil French Jacquard Weave Tea towel

Monogram Greens French Jacquard Tablecloth

Versailles Blue Jacquard Figural Table Runner

Ruby Red Montmirail French Jacquard Tablecloth

Many Jacquard cloths today are considered ‘coated’ because they have been treated with a teflon-type coating, to make caring for them so much easier. Rather than the rather laborious washing, drying and ironing, coated linens just wipe clear.  Especially true for tablecloths, it makes using elegant linens so much more practical, and means they do not need to be reserved for special occasions.

Touch of Europe offers many different types of Jacquard linens, from teacloths, tablecloths (in many different sizes), napkins, bread baskets and tea towels. Coated and uncoated. And colors for everyone!

What is a Mangle:

A mangle is a mechanical laundry aid, consisting of two rollers connected by cogs that are used to press linens flat. The original version was intended as a rinsing device, to wring out as much water as possible, but before long this use was replaced by the ironing one we know today. Mangles for pressing gained in popularity with built in cloths or mangling cloths that would protect the items being mangled and help avoid them getting tangled on the rollers. The pictures below will give you an idea of what old mangles look like.

Most household linens had to be ironed in the days before permanent press processes. Linen especially is not as soft and pleasant to the touch unless it has been ironed. Mangles were essential aids in the days of all-linen households. The mangles were either owned by the family or the laundry was taken to the old version of a laundromat, where one could rent a mangle or have items mangled. Linen can be heated more than any other fiber, so most often the mangling cloths are made of linen (flax).

Mangle cloths, Farmer Cloths, Mangle:

The old mangle cloths, especially the ones from Germany, are especially popular today. They are used for tablecloths (think French provincial banquet cloths), curtains (2 mangle cloths with an edge folded over to form a sleeve), upholstery, and many other purposes. Generally a German mangle cloth will be between 32 and 36 inches wide, and between 110 and 120 inches long. They often have a stripe on the side, usually red, but sometimes blue, yellow or even purple. The stripes were a guide for inserting the cloth into the machine.

Since linen can withstand the highest heat, the mangle cloths are made of linen, and become softer and shinier with use.

The picture below shows Eddie Ross explaining mangle cloths and their uses at a recent Scott Antique Show in Atlanta where Touch of Europe had a booth

Current use:

The possible uses are infinite. Mangles have been used in all kinds of things from bedspreads, curtains, tablecloths, runners, upholstered pieces and more. We have posted a number of pictures we’ve collected over the years to show you some examples.

The first set is a chair and bed skirt, and also some pillows made with vintage linens. This was done by a customer of ours. The pillows are vintage tea towels!

If you would like to make a curtain set like the one shown below, instructions are at the bottom of this post. The set requires 3 mangles, a straight stitch on a sewing machine, 3 seams, some measuring tape and curtain rods. It won’t take more than an hour at most to make and anyone who can sew a straight stitch can make this.

To make a 3 piece valance set:

You will need 3 mangle cloths.  Neutral thread, tape measure, fabric marker.

Measure the windows (make sure the rods are up before you measure.  You will need 2 rods, one for the curtain panels and one for the valance)

For the curtain panels: fold over the short side of the mangle to obtain the desired length (forming a valance of sorts).  Mark the fold and stitch a sleeve the width of the rod plus a little bit for ease.  Be sure to measure both mangle cloths.  The curtains pictured were not identical, there was a 1 inch difference, so the folded piece was shorter for one of them to make sure it was even.

For the valance.  Measure the drop you want, and fold the mangle in the width.  Stitch a sleeve the same way as you did for the curtain panels.  Hang the whole set up and enjoy.

One possible variant: if the folded over piece for the curtain panels is quite large, you can cut a piece off and use it to make a tie-back for each curtain panel.