Grandma’s Bark Cloth
Barkcloth is a heavyweight, cotton fabric with a rough
textured surface. Do not confuse this
with a textile made from the bark of various trees: breadfruit, fig and paper
mulberry found in South America and more frequently, Polynesia.
Grandma’s barkcloth was manufactured in the late 1940’s and
50’s when fine fabric was scarce due to WWII.
It is usually associated with large-scale prints of tropical florals and
birds. These fabrics were bold in
palettes of chartreuse, yellows, vivid greens and corals.
Occasionally, the tone was more refined featuring stripes
and softer colors of blues and creams.
Because of their terrific graphic qualities and the
sturdiness of the weave, barkcloth became very popular as an upholstery fabric,
especially for porch and patio furniture.
I remember seeing it on furniture in my grandmother’s “Florida Room”, as
sun rooms were often called, although she lived nowhere near Florida. Actually,
the climate wasn’t really sunny most of the time either.
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| Barkcloth with a Japanese motif |
Today “patio prints” of barkcloth are very popular once
again and vintage barkcloth is fetching surprising prices. One word of caution, most vintage remnants
lived a prior life as curtains, draperies or upholstered pillows and
cushions. If the fabric was placed in a
room with direct sunlight and heat (they didn’t call them sun rooms for
nothing) the textile will have become fragile and often fractures or splits
will occur with reuse. If you are
planning on using this type of fabric for upholstery consider purchasing a
reproduction and save the vintage for pillows and small accessories.
Occasionally, one might find textured, heavy, cotton fabrics
depicting a bucolic scene reminiscent of toiles, incongruous though it sounds, a
finely etched design on linen or cotton compared to a printed scene on roughly
textured fabric. These mid twentieth century fabrics were produced for the
middle class market by companies such as Waverly Fabrics and F. Schumacher
& Co.
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