Today I’m doing research on a vintage tea towel which I’ve owned for many years.
European Tea Towel
The tea towel has a lovely woven rose pattern which runs down both sides. The pattern is green on the ends then a strip of yellow, three red lines, the rose pattern, three more red lines and then another strip of yellow. It is a little hard to see in the photographs because the material is so worn.
It is either made from woven linen or cotton. There are no tags on the tea towel. If there is a tag on the towel, then generally it is a newer fabric. This is totally a guess, but I’m thinking it was made in the 1950’s to 1970’s era.
The photograph on the left, shows the rose pattern edging.
The tea towel’s condition shows lots of wear and has a few small holes in it but no stains that I can see.
I was not able to find anything online about it, but if I had to guess I think it is of European origin. Possibly French, German, Slovakian or Hungarian.
In the photograph below you will notice the fabric is not printed but woven. The same pattern appears on both sides. On the right side you will see the red rose, on the back side you will see it is outlined with white thread.
History of Tea Towels
I thought I would also blog a little bit about the history tea towels.
In the 18th century, English tea time was an important event for the lady of the house. If she had guests in for tea, she would serve them tea using her good fine china and linens.
She might have placed a tea towel over the tea pot to keep it warm or to catch any spills. She could even cover her tea sandwiches, cookies or bread with a clean tea towel. Tea towels are different from regular towels because they are lint free and often very absorbent for drying the fine china, silverware, or glassware. Tea towels got their from tea time.
Women then began to embellish their plain tea towels by using embroidery stitches or adding a fancy edging of some type.
When tea towels began to be mass produced by textile factories they were often only printed on only one side.
In the United States during the Depression of the 1930’s, women would recycle flour and feed bags into tea towels, aprons, or other pieces of clothing.
Ending Notes on Vintage Tea Towel Blog
So ends the tale of tea towels, scones and tea. I’ll keep my readers posted with any additional information.
Update 1-19-2022 – I’ve heard from a lady in Slovakia that the tea towel in the above blog story looks very much like the tea towel she has. In fact, it might be the same one.
Her mother would buy extra supplies of kitchen towels, towels and sheets when she had extra money. Smart and practical lady!
I’m also adjusting the age of the tea towel from the 1970’s to the 1980’s.
Vintage Green and White Tea Towel
Below is a bonus photograph of another vintage tea towel.
I thought I would add the photograph on the right of a vintage tea towel from a previous blog.
The tea towel has a green circular and oval pattern. This towel, I believe is made out of linen.
Unfortunately, I do not have too much information on this tea towel either.
Research Sites: Blank Tea Towel, Radical Tea Towel, and Mary’s Kitchen Flour Sack.