posted on November 13, 2000 10:31:43 AM
Oilcloth is a cotton fabric, quite heavy-duty, treated with oil and colouring pigments, and often used as table covers, or chair seat covers. It is quite durable, and when pigmented brown, can resemble leather. Popular in 20's and 30's furniture...still used today.
******************** Gosh Shosh!
posted on November 13, 2000 10:35:21 AM
VeryModern,I dont know if this will help,When I lived on a farm with my Aunt and Uncle,We
covered the table with what my Aunt called the oil cloth.It was stiff,The surface real slick,It layed like a cloth.It was almost like a plastic cloth,Except it was something
else.I think it was starched cotton,Thick,
maybe canvas.
posted on November 13, 2000 10:41:24 AM
The oilcloth I remember from grade school was a tightly woven canvas-like material with a waterproof coating on one side and reinforcing thread on the other. I don't know what the waterproofing stuff was but it gave it a smooth, plastic like coating. It came in different colors and patterns.
posted on November 13, 2000 10:44:57 AM
Thanks everybody, this leaves me with another question.
If this is still produced today, and in general for the past decades, why does an ebay search only turn up a handful of stuffed "oilcloth" animals or doll faces? Why not yards of this stuff?
I am asking because I picked up another load of vintage fabric and am baffled as always. One of the pieces has a very slight sheen and feels "coated" but I have no idea with what. It seems like it should be used for a tablecloth, it is maybe "wipeable".
Anyway, I highly doubt it is older than 50's or 60's and NOT oilcloth, but how come there are not dozens of auctions on ebay selling fabric like I what I have saying oilcloth, or oilcloth-like? Or just plain yards of authentic oilcloth?
posted on November 13, 2000 10:48:03 AM
and one more question...
What era are we talking when you could go to a fabric store and buy 3 yrds for $1.00?
Thanks
posted on November 13, 2000 10:50:31 AM
Oooops! No answer to that, VM
Oilcloth is waterproofed; that is why it is used as table coveringsd and kitchen chairs upholtery fabric.
******************** Gosh Shosh!
posted on November 13, 2000 10:56:14 AM
No really..
I am trying to learn to date this stuff.
Often times the stuff has the store tag on. 1 yard / 17 cents or whatever.
I realize these are likely junky scrap pieces, but what range of time would 33 cents a yard be?
Is "era" the wrong word?
Okay, I mean VINTAGE?
What VINTAGE is this SHABBY CHIC fabric. lol!
posted on November 13, 2000 11:00:29 AM
'Taint produced anymore. Was superseded at least 3 decades ago, probably 4, by vinyl-coated plastic.
You know those vinyl-coated plastic tablecloths you can buy today, with the sort of fuzzy, flannely back? That's where you'd commonly have used oilcloth half a century ago. Or for covering kitchen shelves or for the pad on the baby changing table (remember those?). It's "waterproof" only like Barbour waxed jackets are - water CAN get through the fibers if you soak it long enough.
Anyway, send me (or post here) a pic/scan of both sides of the fabric you're talking about (even if it's solid, not print) and we'll try to figure a date for you. I was buying fabric in the late '60s for 25 cents a yard retail, so 3 yds/$1 could be just about anytime before 1970.
but how come there are not dozens of auctions on ebay selling fabric like I what I have saying oilcloth, or oilcloth-like? Or just plain yards of authentic oilcloth?
Finding yardage more than 50 years old is a real toughie, particularly when you're talking utility cloth. Mostly, if people had it on hand, they used it up.
Oh BTW, you're probably right about that stuff being "junky scrap pieces." Send it this way...
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Nov 13, 2000 11:02 AM ]
posted on November 13, 2000 11:02:59 AM
Well...as I mentioned in my first answer, the 20's and 30's era used this type of cloth for upholstery of kitchen chairs, because of it's pseudo-leather look. So, it would be like a poor man's leather...i guess....Also, the 60's, if the fabric was on special sale...
******************** Gosh Shosh!
posted on November 13, 2000 11:14:18 AM
Thanks Shosh, let me get this clear. You are talking specifically about oilcloth, is that right?
I am wondering just garden variety whatever...
You surely can't buy squat for 33 cents a yard today - so when was it that you went to Montgomery Wards, or Woolworth's and bought 3 yards of whatever for a buck?
My dilemma is I have this fabric with these type of tags and no idea about it. I am pretty much without a sense of style at all, I have no idea how to date this stuff. I was raised by bohemian vegetarian astrologers with no concern whatsoever for the coneventional, or what others were doing. If you would like me to explain that you should always sleep with your head pointing north, I'm your gal, but this city stuff is the land of bafflement for me. I hope you are entertained.
posted on November 13, 2000 11:22:58 AM
Thanks HCQ here is the fruit and nuts and I don't mean my parents!
This did not have a price tag like that but was in with a lot that did. It has a little bit of a sheen and it is slightly stiff but not all that heavy. Like a coated bedsheet.
posted on November 13, 2000 11:24:01 AM'Taint produced anymore. Was superseded at least 3 decades ago, probably 4, by vinyl-coated plastic.
Man I hate to disagree with HCQ about fabric, but here goes...
Dusters, long coats worn mainly by cowboys here, introduced by the Australians, are made of oilcloth and can be purchased today. Many of the Barn jackets worn today are made of oil cloth as well. You can also buy horse blankets and tarps made of oil cloth.
edited to add: I didn't see your pic before posting and no horse or man would be caught dead in the fruity floral stuff in your pic. The oil cloth I'm talking about is usually a shade of brown or black, and solid. Kind of a distressed look to it.
[ edited by UpInTheHills on Nov 13, 2000 11:28 AM ]
posted on November 13, 2000 11:31:32 AM
That's chintz or polished cotton.
Oilcloth is a lot stiffer and heavier - think of a rag you used to stain a piece of furniture and then left to dry.
UpInTheHills is right. The "coat" oilcloth is indeed still around, although jeez, it's like wearing a Molotov cocktail (I shouldn't complain, I've got a Barbour "waxed jacket" myself. Death wish.) The "oilcloth" generally referred to in the 20th century, however, was the stuff used in e.g. kitchens and was printed with flowers, bunnies and duckies, etc. and is NOT available anymore as far as I can tell. The stuff they market today as its substitution is plastic. Not the real thing.
What's the width? You can safely say pre-1965 or thereabouts if it's 36".
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Nov 13, 2000 11:34 AM ]
posted on November 13, 2000 11:34:30 AM
Maybe no cowboy would be caught dead in that particular fabric but I bet it was a real hit with the Monty Python lumberjacks.
posted on November 13, 2000 11:42:37 AM
You say it's the weight/texture of a bedsheet, but has a slightly shiny finish? On just the right side?
I'd date it to the late '50s - early '60s and call it polished cotton. Decorator fabric was often 48" (what we'd get at 54-60" nowadays), but that was usually the heavier stuff.
Edited to add: I've got a 1957 ad from Montgomery-Ward with fabric at 49 cents/yard; so if your stuff was flat-fold, it could easily be 3/$1 into the mid-60s.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Nov 13, 2000 11:45 AM ]
posted on November 13, 2000 11:57:17 AM
No HCQ it's 35" wide X 6 yards, just the weight of a bed sheet, but definitely sheeny on one side. This is how this whole oilcloth question came about. I kept rubbing it and it felt as if something should come off on my fingers, but I don't know what. It is a bit starchy and shiny, but obviously produced this way. If I fold and crease firmly,it holds the crease for awhile anyway.
posted on November 13, 2000 12:17:38 PM
Woven stripe, probably a rayon (or other synthetic) and cotton blend. I bet if you flip it over you'll find the same shiny/rough texture, except less intense.
OR, if it's printed on, it could be some unusual glazing, but from the pic I doubt it.
Actually, I like the smell of oilcloth and waxed jackets, but then I like the smell of oil paint, diesel exhaust and peat and coal fires, too (can you say "in another life I was a painter in Yorkshire"?).
posted on November 13, 2000 12:54:41 PM
Our Utah fabric stores sell something that sure does look like oilcloth! (Of course, we always say Utah is 20 years behind the rest of the country, LOL.)
Our family has a cabin continuously occupied since 1920. We eat on a large picnic table outdoors, and one of the first things we always do when we get there is to roll out the oilcloth onto that table. We can clean it by hosing it down or splashing a pan of water on it and rubbing. It's great, with kids around. We've used up our last pieces, finally, but I'd love to get more.
Our daughter travels a lot in Mexico and says they are producing "oilcloth" down there in wonderful prints and solids. I've implored her to get me some next trip.
Really, oilcloth was/is wonderful, so practical and decorative. Not awful at all!
posted on November 13, 2000 02:33:54 PM
Kinda-sorta.
Tradition, "real" oilcloth and linoleum have pretty much the same basic construction: an application of linseed or tung oil (both of which harden - those are the oils used in furniture finishing) to a cotton fabric (e.g. canvas or sailcloth) base. Linoleum has cork dust mixed in, and obviously a thicker coating. A floorcloth is, very basically and traditionally speaking, a heavy canvas cloth painted (with oil paints) and used as a floor covering.
From a Berlin textile conservator, here's a few variations on the oilcloth theme:
oilcloth: fabric soaked with a drying vegetable oil (linseed oil)
leathercloth: like oilcloth, but with several layers (first one contains a mixture of filler, starch paste and pre-polymerized
linseed oil; next ones mixture of linseed varnishes)
linoleum: fabric with a coating (mixture of drying vegetable oils, cork flour, filler and pigments)
lincrusta: like linoleum, but with wood flour instead of cork
artificial leather: fabric with a layer (mixture of cellulose nitrate, filler and pigments)
Lincrusta (and its even more expensive cousin, Anaglypta) was developed in England in the 1880s as a substitute for fancy plasterwork. It's basically embossed linoleum wallpaper and is available in waiscoting and friezes, and is applied with a thick clay-base paste, then painted. Most of the original designs are still available (we used it in our Boston 1878 townhouse). It is not cheap, but boy, is it beautiful and downright indestructible:
Artificial leather is what you find on a lot of e.g. Morris chairs. When it's old it tends to crack and flake and get kind of dull looking. My parents inherited my great-grandparents' porch swing c.1920 - not a glider, but this huge contraption that actually swung on its own frame and opened into a bed (taking off your finger in the process), and it was covered in this stuff in an oxblood red. I can still feel and smell it. Even damp it wasn't slimy like vinyl can get. I miss it, but where would we put it here?
Roadsmith, here may be a source for your Mexican oilcloths. Notice, though, that they're not "real" oilcloth, but vinylized fabric.
However, the prints are pretty much in line with the traditional stuff, and tons of fun besides. I like the pears and apples, although the pomegranates are appropriately surreal and the tulips are positively scary too. Tough call.
If anybody ever finds a source for "real" printed oilcloth, please let me know!
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Nov 13, 2000 02:39 PM ]
(just teasing...)
