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50s style barkcloth for upholstery and draperies – from Melinamade

Pam Kueber - Updated: August 9, 2021

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

melinamade
Update: Melinamade’s website is gone again. If you are looking for barkcloth, go to our story: 6 places to find barkloth.

I bought one yard of melinamade.com’s “celestial aqua” barkcloth to make the valance in my kitchen — and the fabric was just awesome. It is really nice and heavy-weight…great “hand”, or feel…and the colors are rich and beautiful. I love it, it makes a huge difference!

In the photos you get to see Melina herself. If you read the “about” section on her website, you can see that she got into the business out of passion — which we totally identify with!! The site also notes that she was able to identify one of the few remaining companies the still weave barkcloth in the 40s-60s way, so this is the real deal.

 

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26 comments

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  1. Vicki says

    I’ve just snagged a lovely couch & chair set similar in line to one my aunt had and that I loved in 1958, and want badly to recover it (this will be its 3rd life) with fabric like hers. But I’ve looked until I’m nearly blind, and can’t even find a photo/description of it, let alone a supply.

    I’m referring to a very durable weave that was textured and had silver sparkle threads running through it. Hers was black, and that’s what I want, though I did see it on other people’s furniture in brown. Does anyone remember what I’m talking about? Am I in the wrong decade on this?

    Thanks for any help!

    Is this going the be the same story as the gold flecked Formica?

  2. AtomicLivin says

    Don’t despair… Melina’s fabrics are available at her new website… MelinaMadeFabrics.com ! 🙂

    Someone had swooped down and bought up her other website address before she had a chance to renew the domain name.

    I hope she makes her fabulous fabrics for many years to come!~

  3. loumeigs says

    🙁 I was just checking her site to see if she had any of the paper and fabric we liked back in stock and too saw that the site is gone. It is a shame. I’m crossing my fingers….

  4. Sputnik Sandi says

    That’s certainly a possibility. I just noticed that the fabrics that I’ve used (Boomerang Mushroom and Boomerang White), and the fabrics that I’m considering for future projects (Atomicburst White and Celestial Aqua) are both still available and at the same prices as before. Perhaps she’ll be updating the website with more offerings soon.

  5. Joe says

    The site is back but it looks like a lot of stuff is sold out. Some of her wallpapers were a very decent price but they’re no longer available it seems.

  7. Sputnik Sandi says

    That is such a shame! I’ve used Melina’s fabric for my living room sofas, my dining room chairs, and my kitchen curtains. I’ll be doing a bathroom remodel in the future, and I was looking forward to using Melina again (for the shower curtain). Hopefully she’ll renew the site, or make her fabric available elsewhere.

  8. Barb Scott says

    We ordered some sample fabrics from her sometime back. The envelope has her actual address, which is:
    Melinamade
    1235 Watson Ranch Way
    DIxon, Ca 95620
    Have no idea if she’s still in business or not. If not, a real shame!

  10. sparklegem says

    I love Melina’s fabrics. About six years ago I had her make four pillow in the Atomicburst fabric. The fabric is fabulous, she did a beautiful job and they still look great after several washings.