Cindy and I met up at Osgood’s Fabrics last week. It’s a megastore located in West Springfield, Mass., that has so much fabric that it will make your head spin… all at terrific prices. Cindy (pictured above) was researching fabric for pinch pleats. I was the one who was interested in this hippie patchwork, though. It was $14/yard. Yes, there are lots more pics from this tour.
Osgoods’ specialty is fabric for home interiors, and it goes on and on and on — so much so that if you go with a friend, you better both bring cell phones so that you can find each other if you get separated.
Cindy was looking for a mid-century modern graphic or floral pattern in basically this colorway.
It was hard not to like these big bold graphic designs, though, too. I would tend to call this a contemporary (today) interpretation of modern. The colors — fantastic.
This fabric had a terrific retro-inspired hand (feel), kind of like vintage rhino-cloth.
Again, a contemporary take on mid-mod.
Cindy found a local seamstress to make her pinch pleats. If it goes well, I think I will use the same seamstress to make me some pinch pleat sheers out of this fabric, but in ecru/natural. I am going to layer the sheers under my existing pinch pleats. I love that layered look.
My vintage pinch pleats have a design not too dissimilar to this. Although, my colorway is all beiges, ecrus and very light browns. These kind of tone-on-tone pastoral toiles were and are appropriate for Retro Renovation living rooms, dining rooms or bedrooms — and convey a more formal look. I also found this same fabric, which is called Bosporus by 5th Avenue Design for Covington, at Fashion Fabrics Club online, which also has a big brick-and-mortar presence in Denver. Osgoods will do mail-order, too.
Ooooh, this would be great for an Early American basement. Actually, the fabric I made into pinch pleat for my cherry-paneled man-cave is very similar in overall feel.
Switching gears altogether, this polished cotton chintz — with its Asian toile on stripes — would look lovely in a formal living room, dining room or bedroom. That said, I think you need to be careful how you use red and gold, or else the room starts looking like the Washington Redskins.
Yowza, look at this. I know a lot of readers would like this fabric. It was stained, though. Cindy, should we go back, wheel and deal for it, clean it, then sew it into shower curtains to sell on etsy.com?
Cheap and cheerful decorating idea: Take webbing like this (which we presumed was intended for some sort of outdoor use) and craft it into pull shades. The fabric was such that, if you trimmed the edges, it wouldn’t unravel.
This would make for a pretty shower curtain in a pink bathroom. I’m nuts for novelty prints in pastel bathrooms.
Seriously, folks, if you have BIG needs for fabric, plan a vacation to Springfield/Hartford so that you can go shopping at Osgoods. Hartford has an airport servicing the region… the Basketball Hall of Fame is nearby… and Cindy and I might even come down to meet you.
Finally, I’m sure you’re curious what Cindy chose. But, I think we’ll leave that for a surprise reveal. Stay tuned.
Links: Osgood Textile.
It’s just way too early in the morning to be having a heart attack already. geeeeezzz.
xo, suzy
It’s times like this when I really, really dislike being stuck in the middle of Iowa.
Fabric stores can be dangerous places! I’m from a family of sewers, so I know! lol
And your car didn’t swerve over to Puritan Road?
Backround Info: When I was a kid- my mother would drag us to Osgoods….a rickety 1200 sq foot converted home on Osgood Street in Springfield. In about 1969, it burned like a torch. My father was a city fireman-and said he remembers it as one of the worst fires he ever responded to.
A new, larger building was erected in what was titled: Springfield’s “New North” end of town. (60′s Urban Renewal).
The company…4 generations of the Kahn Family, outgrew this space and are currently located in a huge warehouse in West Springfield, Mass. Not bad for a company that began by supplying rags to industry….
It’s amazing…they have everything from simple muslin to Scalamandre…(all piled together…which makes for a treasure hunt!). And if they do not have something….they can magically find it for you…at a great price.
I love Osgoods.
It is well worth a trip from anywhere in New England.
I’m stuck in the middle of Iowa too! Bet they have awesome retro cowboy fabric.
OMG! I WANT TO GO!!
Of course, one more thing:
If any has it in their mind to go, they close promptly at 1:00 on Saturdays.
This looks like a fantastic place to spend hours browsing. I love that pink Parisian print with the fashions, little purses, and perfume bottles. It would be fun to design a bedroom around that wonderful print!
Ooooh, so much to love here! And I love the guidance you give your readers, Pam, on how/where to use the different fabrics. I absolutely adore that aqua/green stained fabric – go back and get it!!!
I was just there Friday afternoon!! I picked up and debated on the stained one. I think Im going back and getting some. It matched the color of my bedroom too well not to get it!
I also found a green reproduction atomic fabric! I was just about to photograph it for a post on my blog. I’m happy to find fello Massachusetts retrophile.
Kitschcake Shane!
I’m utterly overwhelmed. I love it all, especially the patchwork fabric which would make a great ’70′s-inspired maxi skirt!
fabulous store!
I LOVE fabric, and I have lots of it! My husband doesn’t get it. I would stay in this store for hours! I think I feel a trip coming on.
WHAT???????
I’ve lived in Connecticut for 17 years, during most of which I’ve whined, moaned, and bitched about the dearth of fabric available and the demise of fabric stores in general. I used to go to this place in Rhode Island, but it closed a couple of years ago.
Why didn’t anyone tell me about Osgoods? Is it possible that none of my sewing friends have heard about it? Even the one who grew up in western Mass?
I feel the way I did in 2006 when, after years of asking everybody I knew or met if there was a store you could get bulk/health/local foods and they all shook their heads, I discovered the Food Cooperative in Willimantic CT. Fifteen minutes away. Now, whenever I’m really homesick for Oregon, I go there. My kids call it the hippy store.
Pam, you’ve made me so happy! My God! The Powell’s Books of fabric is only 45 minutes away from me. Although, it’s kind of eerie to find out about it the day after I buy a beautiful 1958 Singer Slant-O-Matic 403a sewing machine. Is that the X-Files theme I hear in the background?
Oooooooooh! I don’t have cloth window coverings in my house right now, plantations shutters, verticals on one huge window and bare windows in the sunroom. I think I am having an attack of pinch pleat envy right now. I WANT that first tropical fabric with the little blue flowers and the big red, pink and green leaves. It would be fabulous in my front room over the verticals. It reminds me of the great drapes I made for our first house in 1970. Neighbors all thought they looked psychedelic.
Isn’t it funny that we ALL found that stained turquois and white print? It was just stuffed in the middle of nowhere…..
I saw it a month ago and considered buying some of it. My first thought was that it might be fiberglass…..my second was that it was a survivor of the above mentioned fire! (1969)
Osgoods fabrics are not always retro…I don’t mean this in a bad way; but it’s like a fabric landfill. Sometimes the bottom layer rises to the top!
Gavin, thanks for pointing me to a clarification: Osgoods features all varieties of fabric — it’s not just about retro / vintage styles. They have Everything and then some. And — yes — that atomic (stained) fabric had a very strange feel — like fiberglass, yes. You are right, it may well be from 1969!
Great post, I have been many times, never disappointed.
I’m dying-I LOOOOVE these.
When I lived in MN we would shop at the Minnetonka Mills – lots & lots of fabric. We also used to shop at S&R fabric outlet…lots & lots of fabric…but don’t ever light a cigarette or it’d be a bon fire!
In 1983 after my dad got remarried they were trying to pick out a comforter for their water bed…I begged dad NOT to get the velour patchwork style — which, it looks like is exactly what Cindy is holding…BEGGED Him! As an young full-of-my-own-tastes-artist I took it almost as an insult that they would choose that one. They didn’t listen to me…now, almost 30 years later, I find it’s kind of neat…but as a 19 year old? no way! funny how time changes you.
How fun! I find that Osgoods is a bit ‘hit or miss’ but found some tiki barkcloth in the ‘remainder bin’ about 5 years ago. I’m moving (back) into my ranch next month (in Easthampton MA) and am trying to find fabrics for curtains. Guess I’ll have hit up Osgoods again – and hope for a ‘hit’ !
Hi Bex, in their new location, I think they have even more. There is ALWAYS something that I want to buy, like 46 yards of, “just in case.” Argh.
Wow – I just bought five yards of the Bosphorus fabric YESTERDAY and was wondering where to find more – you are not only a lifesaver, you’re psychic!
I have been looking for the fabric in your 3rd picture. The one with the oblong circles and lines.( Cindy was looking for mod fabric in that colorway)I have recovered my dining room chairs and made drapes for my 1968 Dodge Polara station wagon in that design. But I had to use shower curtain material! I would love to find out the name of the design or maker or any clue.I would like to see if I can source the material here in the west. I get soooo many compliments when we drive the old beast around town. Thanks for any help.
Susan, I don’t have the name of the manufacturer. Perhaps you could call Osgoods to see if they could help you. OR, try a large local fabric store that carries a lot of brands. This kind of design is pretty common now. Another company – based in Canada – that might be able to help you was profiled in my recent story about places to find barkcloth, also in st. ory about Cindy and her drapes. Check out those posts. Good luck,
Another Iowan that isn’t near the store! Darn! I could spend days in there!