We know you’re dying to find out who finally won the last drawing of our summer giveaways, so there won’t be a long drawn out post before the announcement. We wish we could send you all a carry bag, they’re pretty cool items!

But that would take all the fun out of winning, wouldn’t it?

Congratulations to Karen Kim! Her winning comment:

“I would be proud to carry such a beautiful market bag!!! filling it with wonderful fruits and cheeses for a Sunday afternoon picnic in the park!”

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who entered the drawing.

Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend!

Thank you to everyone who wrote lovely comments for us! And we’re especially excited to see that so many of you are either thinking about going “green” or have already started making the effort. Congrats to all of you!

Our third winner of the Carry Bag is Cathy! She wrote:

this would be so awesome to have at the store. i get tired of plastic bags and store bags. you always end up with too many. so having just one bag to it all would be so groovy! and i love the different patterns. awesome!

We can’t wait to hear what pattern/color she would like so we can ship it off right away.

***UPDATE***
The email address the winner provided was incorrect. If you are the person who made this comment and WON the carry bag, please leave another comment in this post with your correct email address in the information section. Thank you!

Happy August 17th everyone! It’s the third Tuesday of the month and that means it’s time to announce another Carry Bag winner.

The entries are coming in so fast it’s obvious that the Carry Bag is a very popular item. And we’re really happy to give it out to some lucky readers this month.

Would you like to increase your chance of winning? It’s easy! You can re-enter every week! Just leave a comment on the blog in any blog post you’d like and we’ll put your name in again.

Are you ready for the winner??
[Read more →]

Mangles and Mangling machines

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.

We start setting up on September 25, and will be open to the public from September 26 to October 3. Our booth is still the BIG one in the building, with more and more wonderful treasures from Europe – don’t miss us!  Burton is on the road to Round Top – see map

If you need directions – look here