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How to Source Great Vintage Napkins

Do you collection napkins? I do, and my favorite kind are vintage. Vintage napkins are napkins that range in age from antique (more than 50 years old) to vintage (10 - 40 years old). Whichever time period they come from, many napkins manufactured in year priors can add a certain zing to your table, either through color, interesting stitching, fabric quality, or dye-cutting that are sometimes not found with contemporary linens. The answer lies with cultural and social norms around eating and dining. Up until the 1950's when fast food, drive through, and dining out became more mainstream, dining, meals, and entertaining were common and time and attention was given to setting a lovely table with real linens, even for everyday. Napkins, tablecloths, placemats, and runners - linens were collected and used everyday as part of normal routines.

Today, while cloth napkins are plentiful, there are good reasons to seek out vintage. The vintage variety are often a little more fanciful or considered. Also anything vintage or antique is a sustainable, eco-conscious, green product. You can read more about sustainable linens here. Also, pricing on vintage is very reasonable. It is possible to get a great napkin collection going of vintage napkins for very little investment.

There are many items available at the Goodwill, thrift store, or garage sale, so knowing what to look for it key. This article by Uplifted Beauty gives a great overview of what to look for when buying vintage. Here is my advice: 1. Shop Quality Before you do some serious hunting, check out the shop first. Do some due diligence on the store you wish to frequent. There are some consignment or thrift stores in my neighborhood that always have a great selection of vintage table linens and then others that never do. Find out who shops at the store? Who mostly makes donations? What condition are the items in general? These basic questions will give you a framework for assessing if this store will carry the kind of items you are looking for. 2. Selection and Inventory Look at the inventory of home linens when you get to the shop. By eyeballing it, you can get a feel for the types of linens they resell and the general quality of these items. If the shop seems to specialize in other things - like clothing - for example, then this shop might not be on the list for optimal vintage finds. With selection, you also want to get a sense of how fast the items turnover, and if donations come in continually. If yes on both, chances are you will be able to find nice linens new in the shop each time you come. 3. Quality When you are going through all the options, check first for quality. Since you are looking through aged or used items, quality is key. Look carefully at the napkins on both sides. Does the fabric have holes, worn areas or snags? Are these areas very noticeable? Next look for stains or blemishes on the fabric. Most often, these stains are permanent so it's best to purchase a napkin with snags or stains. When you use these napkins, the last thing you want is a napkin with a stain smack in the middle of your table arrangement. 4. Folly This is the subjective part and the most fun. What delights you? What colors are you looking for? How does the fabric feel? All these play a part in your final selection, and if the quality and price are good, then go for it. Before you know it, you'll have more napkins than you know what to do with. A very good problem to have. click here

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Is Linen Eco-Friendly?

Definition Eco-friendly is a buzzword in environmentally conscious circles, especially those in the textile industry. So what does eco-friendly or eco-conscious really mean? This article explains. The term "Eco" is explained from the website Etymoline which is a great resource for understanding the roots of words. According to this resource "Eco" refers to the relationship of humans to the environment. Eco is therefore a broad idea that informs the fields of ecology, ecosphere, ecosystem, and eco travel, to name a few. This chart explains ecology's origin: In the textile industry, "Eco"describes how the growing, production, design, and fulfillment of linens (or linen fabric) is friendly toward or helps the environment. There are many different ways that linen can be described as eco-friendly, and you'll find that each linen brand employs eco-conscious measures into their operations uniquely. Some brands are less concerned with being eco-conscious, and will not make it part of their story. Other brands, like Modernplum being environmentally conscious a core part of our values and bake it into every part of our operations. Key Eco-Friendly Components 1. Fabric Selection: The fabrics used is a key component of any eco-friendly operation. Did you know that some fabrics are by nature more environmentally conscious than others? Flax linen fabric is one of the most, if not the most eco-friendly fabrics around. Refer to this article for more information about linen and it's sustainable properties. 2. Manufacturing: How a product gets made is a critical part of a product being eco-friendly. If you facility uses extra energy, or you use harsh chemical dyes or finishes on the textiles, those components would detract from having a eco-friendly product. Or, on the otherhand, if a factory is committed to using all natural dyes or processes that do not add artificial chemicals to the textile during production, that would be eco-friendly. Also, quality of manufacturing is a consideration. If a product is made "fast"and not considered a long term, durable good, this ultimately is not good for the environment. These goods will end up in the land fill or at the Goodwill quickly. 3. Fullfillment and Shipping: Linen fabric and linen production that requires multiple locations and long shipments before reaching an end user is not an eco-friendly enterprise. International travel is not green. When possible, look for locally produced materials, goods, and services. These are the three key components that either make or break the eco-friendly aspect of a product. For more information on this and sustainability in textiles, refer to this article. click here

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With all the choices on what to purchase everywhere, we ask the question: Is luxury custom bedding worth the splurge? Think of the disposable linens from the big box store. All is good until about 3-6 months later when that bedding doesn't look and feel as nice as it once did. Maybe seams are beginning to fray, or the cotton is just getting stiff. And so begins the cycle of tossing or donating old bedding, and shopping and purchasing more. To break that cycle, the big question becomes - is higher quality bedding that will last nearly a life time worth the splurge? Luxury bedding are those where essential elements like design, fabric selection, and sewing are considered for their quality, fair labor, sustainability, and aesthetic. A luxury product does not complete with a big box product in quantity, it is a smaller scale proposition focused on quality instead.

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Best Linens for Longevity

With all the choices on what to purchase everywhere, we ask the question: Is luxury custom bedding worth the splurge? Think of the disposable linens from the big box store. All is good until about 3-6 months later when that bedding doesn't look and feel as nice as it once did. Maybe seams are beginning to fray, or the cotton is just getting stiff. And so begins the cycle of tossing or donating old bedding, and shopping and purchasing more. To break that cycle, the big question becomes - is higher quality bedding that will last nearly a life time worth the splurge? Luxury bedding are those where essential elements like design, fabric selection, and sewing are considered for their quality, fair labor, sustainability, and aesthetic. A luxury product does not complete with a big box product in quantity, it is a smaller scale proposition focused on quality instead.

Best Linens for Longevity

Contact Phone Number : 248-701-3599 Contact Address : 330 West Diversey Parkway, Suite 802, Chicago, Illinois 60657

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Quick Guide to Sustainable Linens

There is way to have beautiful linens that are also good for the environment. In this post, we explain what to look for when procuring ethically-made and sustainable textiles for the home. Did you know that the average American consumer tosses an average of 80 pounds of textile garbage each year? And textile waste the second largest polluter of the environment after the coal industry? We got those stats from, Woollygreen, a think tank that collects all sorts of statistics on textiles. Did you also know that many linen and fashion brands produce their products abroad, leading to overuse of transportation, unfair living wages, and abuse of resources? Many common items are produced with fabrics that aren't 100% natural or biodegradable. Whatever your position on the environment, I hope there is agreement that these common behaviors and practice should be reconsidered and that sustainable products - those that are good to people and the environment - should be top of mind when purchasing textiles. There is a better way to design, make, and purchase luxury linens. Here are things to consider when shopping: 1. Buy Less But Buy Better Buying less but better means buying for longevity, which promotes sustainability over time. Products that last are those made from premium natural materials, are often artisan or small-batch produced, and with a focus on utility. Living with products like this means you don't have to replace, rebuy and generally participate in the cycle of buy-use-toss your textiles. Linens that have been made through sustainable practices are often the same linens that last the longest.Think about the head space, time, and stress that would simply vanish, not to mention the extra cash you would have to use on other things. The psychology of shopping wants to buy new things, but this urge in the long run is not always the best use of time or money. 2. Check Fabric Content You can tell a lot about a product by what it's made from. Sustainable linens are those that are made from 100% natural materials where thread fibers have been farmed. This is important for a few reasons. First, natural fabrics like linen, cotton, wool, and silk come from renewable sources. Fibers from these are farmed, and so can be grown again and again. Also, within these natural fabrics there are distinctive differences that affect their sustainability. Look for organic cottons which use much less pesticides and water than regular cotton or, better yet, opt for linen over cotton which uses less water and soil to grow. Secondly, these products are bio-degradable so they will breakdown naturally. In the landfill, not harsh treatments are needed to help these products breakdown do they are kinder to the environment. Something else to check is the origin of the fiber. Selecting products with fiber content grown locally in the USA is going to be more sustainable. Why? Because transportation resources will be saved and labor resources will stay local. 3. Check Made in Sustainability isn't only about protecting the environment, there is the human cost also. Where an item is made can gives some clues about safe and fair working conditions for sewists. In Western countries, we are generally better regulated to protect workers from these conditions. Over time, these sweat shops erode human capital and local communities. Buy made in America whenever possible. 4. Check Price Products made fair-trade and sustainable are a little more expensive. If you see something that is too good to be true in terms of price or how it looks on the shelf, let that be a warning that corners were probably cut to make it so. Price is an indication of value and quality over time. How many times have you purchased something inexpensive that looked wonderful for about 3 months, and then needed to be replaced? Over time, purchasing your textiles that way becomes very costly. 5. Check the Company Sustainable manufacturers are often very forthright in their philosophy and want consumers to know and understand their focus on doing good. Manufacturers who don't are much less open. Let that also be a clue when deciding on who to do business with. Often times, you can read about sustainability right on the product page or hang tag. These messages are very helpful when assessing out sustainable products. So that is our top 5 suggestions on finding the very best sustainable linens. To read more about our sustainability measures, click here.

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Is Luxury Bedding Worth the Splurge?

With all the choices on what to purchase everywhere, we ask the question: Is luxury custom bedding worth the splurge? Think of the disposable linens from the big box store. All is good until about 3-6 months later when that bedding doesn't look and feel as nice as it once did. Maybe seams are beginning to fray, or the cotton is just getting stiff. And so begins the cycle of tossing or donating old bedding, and shopping and purchasing more. To break that cycle, the big question becomes - is higher quality bedding that will last nearly a life time worth the splurge? Luxury bedding are those where essential elements like design, fabric selection, and sewing are considered for their quality, fair labor, sustainability, and aesthetic. A luxury product does not complete with a big box product in quantity, it is a smaller scale proposition focused on quality instead. Here is the list of 7 key differences between these two types of linen purchases: 1. Longevity Products that have a focus on slow sewing and quality fabrics will hold up better over time than those mass produced. This is an example of sustainable linens. When time and care has been placed onto the production, that will caring over to the longevity of the product. If reducing landfill is important to you, then buy better and less often. Custom bedding will give you that option. 2. Dye Quality Fabric pigment can vary a lot. The quality of the fabric fibers and dyes and time spent in the dye process colors can fade in the wash or degrade in the sun or heat. Brights and whites will change their hue. 3. Softness versus Stiff The fiber content in fabrics all react differently to the harshness of the wash and dry cycle. Generally less expensive fibers like short-stem cottons or any synthetic blends like cotton/polyester break down much more quickly than premium fibers like linen. If you use a hot dryer, you'll notice this happen quickly. Fabrics will start to feel stiff rather than soft, like linen. The cycle of having to replace that bedding will start again. 4. Color Spectrum Have you ever noticed when looking at the bedding area of a large department store or big box store that the color selections in bedding are wide but predictable. Nice whites and neutrals are the most popular, followed by black and gray. There are also patterns - florals mostly. And that is generally all. Bedding that is replaceable and made that way, generally uses a limited palette of mainstay colors for their products. If you are looking for something a little different, or perhaps an interesting pattern or stripe, luxury is the better alternative. 5. Fabric Quality Probably the biggest point of difference between between disposable and luxury is materials and sewing. Premium fabrics like linen will hands down out live cotton, making it a better long term choice. Sewing also is part of equation. When seams fray or bedding changes its shape or shrinks in the dryer, you know that materials and/or sewing are the reason. 6. Sewing Details Not all bedding brands sew with equal quality. Look for sewing stitch length (shorter is more durable), corners that a mitered, pillows that are lined, and zippers that are snuggly sewn. For duvet covers, look for extras like internal ties. Here are a few the biggest reasons to step on over to the world of luxury custom bedding. For those who experience these things on a repeat cycle of shop - use - disposal - replace, it is exhausting and not sustainable over the long term. Only you know when to make the leap. To learn about how to order custom bedding from Modernplum, click here.