Early in my estate-sale-hunting life, I discovered vintage linen tea towels. It seemed that every home I entered had a stash of vintage linen tea towels — unused — many still with their labels — finally unpacked from a drawer and now for sale. These also are abundant on ebay, at very reasonable prices.
I began snatching these towels up, and began using them.
Not only do I love them for their (1) terrific vintage graphics and colors, (2) thrifty cost, (3) provenance — but I really love them functionally as well.
Most importantly: Linen kitchen towels really soak up the water. They dry fast. Yes, they fade as you wash them — but, they get softer and softer and still retain their absorbency. Indeed: Nothing Dries Like Linen!
I use them every single day, exclusively, as kitchen towels.
I will guess they came to be known as “tea towels” because… what?… they were used by the Mrs. when she served tea?
Hmmm. All I know is that they work great as daily kitchen towels. Don’t keep them packed away! Use them!
Above: Some designs were ‘mod’.
Above: Some designs resemble Thibault murals.
Above: This one has a very 1940s look to me — very sweet… like a Meyercord decal.
Back in the day, popular makers of linen tea towels seem to have included:
- Parisian Prints — this was the biggie, I *think*.
- Kay Dee
- Martex
- Tammis Keefe — glorious!
- Vera Neumann — glorious!!
- Fallani & Cohn (thanks, Janet!)
- You also saw custom made as location-based souvenir towels and labeled as such.
- And… as special event souvenir towels (thanks, J D!)
- They also were sold as calendars.
- Who else made them?
In my collecting, I’ve picked up lots of roosters and chickens.
Santas too. Put out novelty towels for the season!
Fruits and florals also were very popular.
I love vintage tea towels. How about you?
Ranger Smith says
I agree Pam! Tea towels are awesome. Besides picking them up second hand, they are one of the things I get as souvenirs when travelling because a)they pack well, b) they’re inexpensive c)they’re useful. I often use them on the dining room table under flowers or candles as a centerpiece.
Jennie Williams says
Yes, museum shops have great souvenir tea towels. Easy to bring back and remind you of fun times when drying the dishes!
Ree says
About 2 years ago I saw a very MCM design on a tea towel at an estate sale. I had never bought one, but liked the pattern, and for about $1 I thought it was a good deal. I now have about 20 that I have accumulated from estate sales, and most of them have never been used. I use them as hand towels in my kitchen, and rotate them often. Because they are linen they come out of the washer very wrinkled, but I have found a great way to dry them and not have to iron them. I have an island with a stainless steel top, and I spread them out very flat, smoothing them to their edges on the ss surface. In about an hour or so, they are dry and ready to be folded and put away. This would probably work on any countertop. I hate ironing!
Pam Kueber says
Thanks for the tip, Ree. So… you lay them down wet and let them air dry on the stainless steel?
Retroski says
I would imagine. My mom dries dish towels and rags (cotton, not linen) the same way on her countertop (granite) the same way.
Ree says
Yes, I let them air dry on the island. I have used the counter top, which is Formica, before, but they seem to dry faster on the island. At any rate, I don’t have to iron them, and they look wrinkle free – until the first hand drying, lol.
Kathryn Asbahr says
When my husband’s grandmother passed away at 104, I received a box of her tea towels. The embroidered ones had stains except for where they were stitched. I cut the embroidery out to make quilt blocks and made a quilt with them. I used the printed tea towels on the back. It was a tribute to her and lots of fond memories of the amazing meals she could throw together at a moments notice. The rest of the grandkids were jealous. No one else saw the value or memories in them. I had a few left over and put those in a quilted jacket I love to wear.
Pam Kueber says
What a lovely tribute and reuse — great idea!
Susie Q. says
I have a serious weakness for these towels as well. Once I found an old tea towel in the middle of the road across from my old apt. Of course it was filthy and had been run over multiple times. However it was a calendar towel from the year I was born (1966!) and had calico cats printed on it (!) I resorted to whatever means necessary to get it as clean as I could. I just took it out of the drawer to look at it–it isn’t perfect, but it looks pretty cute! It’s amazing that it cleaned up as well as it did.
I’ve also gotten brand new Vera Neumann towels from Tuesday Morning and on sale from Crate and Barrel. Calendar towels are still being produced today 🙂
Dan Hoyer says
Wow! what a lucky find! I was born in 66 too.
I like reusing old calendars when the days line back up with the current year.
Eliza says
I kept seeing these as well and ended up buying a bunch of them to decorate the tables for my wedding reception!
Mary Elizabeth says
Very cute idea, Eliza!
CarolK says
Tea towels were the dish towels reserved for washing up the tea things: the cups and saucers and tea pot. The mistress of the house did this because she didn’t trust her maids with the delicate china.
Pam Kueber says
Well there you go! Thanks!
Nancy says
When I was a child, one vacation when we were visiting our far away grandparents, I noticed a calendar towel hanging in their kitchen covered with various figured sequins. My Aunt (their daughter) had stitched the different sequins on significant dates. All birthdays and anniversaries for both her family and ours were represented. After the year was finished, she clipped off the sequins and used them on the next calendar towel. The previous towel was then added to the stack in the kitchen drawer to be used. They never had a dishwasher, so many hands were employed to wash and dry. When my own parents became grandparents, I started creating the same type of calendar for them. I think my sisters and I all have at least one towel that we saved when clearing out their belongings after they were gone. And I still have a small stash of the sequins that were shaped like flowers, birds, circles and stars. I also have a few of these towels in a drawer saved for “good”, as well as those that I use regularly.
Pam Kueber says
What a lovely story!
Dan Hoyer says
Great story! I have similar memories about my grandparent’s house. There was always a linen calendar hanging up in the kitchen.
The other thing that these calendars reminded me of is that my other grandmother used to like doing Artex painting on kitchen towels and doilies. We grew up doing a lot of ironing on and coloring with Artex paints! Way more fun than crayons!!!
Mary Elizabeth says
I think all our parents and grandparents got those calendar towels. Most of the ones in our house were souvenirs from vacations and featured city scapes, such as New York and Washington, New England covered bridges, or Pennsylvania Dutch farms, motifs and sayings, such as “We grow too soon old and too late schmart.”
And everyone I knew took down the 1959 towel from the little wooden rod on New Year’s Day 1960, washed and ironed it, then put it in the drawer for daily use. I do have a collection of vintage linens, and I think your are right about the decade for that pink towel with the fruit–1940s. I won’t start a collection of calendar towels, but I would love to have a nice unused Pennsylvania Dutch themed one from 1959–the year my house was built.
Mary Elizabeth says
Found one on eBay for a good price, and it’s on its way to me!
Now, do I hang it on the little wooden rod, or do I frame it to keep it clean?
Denise says
I have some of the same ones. I love them for their function and beauty as well. Love it when I score some with the original tags. I also have over 75 linen calendar towels.
Janet in ME says
I love them too! My mother had them in her gift shop since the early 60’s. She would hang them all over the place. The best seller was Kay Dee but we also had them from a company called Fallani & Cohn and she did buy some from Ireland one year, which she found at the New York Gift Show. They were all in red with green and black and white. I don’t remember who made them. Five years ago I had a hundred or more calendar towels dating back to the late 60’s. When I was a teen, she would let me pick out the order from the catalog. They were never the same one year to the next but the theme was – the most popular were covered bridges, birds, a colonial kitchen, snow scenes or veggies/fruit. Since some would be left over at the end of the year, we always used them in the kitchen, but she saved many of them, some from back into the 60’s. When we moved up here, I put them out in a yard sale and a lady with a shop took them all. I only saved one and just now I dug it out and opened the box – it is from 1968 and I was so thrilled to find it is my current kitchen colors – orange and pale olive green! The boxes were made with address labels printed on them to mail them to friends as gifts. I do use them too and mine are very old now but still look great! I also use them to cover baked goods like bread and pie, especially when I transport them – lets them breathe but not heavy.
Pam Kueber says
Thanks for “Fallani & Cohn”, Janet. I’ll add that to the list!
Mary Elizabeth says
Add Stevens to your list, Pam, the people who made bed linens also.
Carolyn says
I found calendars for the years my daughters were born. As far as holiday decorating, “I yust go nuts at Christmas” so it wasn’t far-fetched for me to cover the tweed couch with a red velvet bedspread and arrange the nicer kitchen towels on the back (with the cats immediately claiming those as THEE BEST spots in the house!) I also hang them at various heights/lengths over the edge of a cabinet with a footed bowl or similar to anchor and create a tableau.
I’m letting this secret out of the bag – at estate sales, I look specifically for older K towels, even stained ones, since they were only used a few weeks a year and are of thicker fabric than the novelty ones from the last couple of decades that may as well have been made of tissue for lack of quality. The nicer ones I keep stored but use the stained/faded ones for every day. One of the few things DH & I agree on is snow and Christmas.