I've been collecting 30's reproduction fabrics for some time and now have quite a collection. I love vintage quilts and all those made in the early 1900's. But I also realize all that white fabric would be a bad idea in my house. I make quilts to be used and white doesn't work well with an all male household.

If you were using 30's reproduction fabrics and couldn't use white for background, etc. what would you use?

try cream

Unbleached muslin.

I have an all male household and I do use white backgrounds (smile). I use whatever goes with the blocks and/or pattern that I am making. My males do fine with white backgrounds and you might be surprised how much they like them. Go for it. Otherwise choose a color that you really want to be pronounced in your quilt and create, create, create.

Tone on tone white? Something with a pattern that isn't distracting, but also not just plain white. I never use plain white anyway... :-)

Tans, creams, yellows, light/medium blue. Do up a few samples and see what you like best. Black or gray would work too.

I like white on white or white on natural prints with 30's repros, but you could also go with 30's solids if you wanted to stay with an "all 30's" feel - Nile green, apple green, butter yellow, peach, pink, lilac, aqua, light blue.

black or gray/grey background. brown, dark tan; dark blues.

the darker colors will definitely make the 1930s light color reproductions pop out.

I think unbleached muslin is probably what they used back then. It should wash well.

I would think a lot of the lder quilts were made with unbleached muslin

Many many 30's quilts were made with green (kind of jadeite green) or bubblegum pink or yellow or blue or lavender as the solid. Look at the colors in Moda's 30's solids and you will get an idea. A saturated pastel is ideal.

Our early quilts were made with unbleached muslin. Bleached muslin was more expensive than unbleached and couldn't affford the "nicer" stuff!

Unbleached muslin or (light) tea-dyed white. Anything but the stark pure white.

Definitely unbleached muslin. It just seems to "fit" with the older fabrics.

Cream or unbleached muslin.

The one I have from the '30's used an almost mint-chocolate-chip iced cream green colour. It's also the only colour on the quilt that didn't end up fading...

I have an Irish Chain in progress using 30's prints and a soft yellow solid. It's looking good!

I think you could use any of the light 30's solid fabrics.

Tea dyed muslin looks great as well.

thinking same thing

I would probably use muslin.

I know exactly what you mean about the white. I made this for my son, who is a mechanic, and used grey instead of the white I started with until his wife pointed it out.

I really like unbleached muslin - it does really get better and softer with each washing and its not expensive.

How about brown? Someone on here did a "Chocolate Jane"... Dear Jane quilt...

I have recently fallen for white backgrounds on quilts but have been to scared to try it yet but I will soon

DITTO...that is my favorite non-white background fabric.

gray for me

I made a quilt years back and used cream with all colors of a fan type..I don''t like the light colors and wished I had used a dark color.It would have set off the fan blocks nuch better.

Kona Snow, not bright white but still white.

Unbleached muslin.....but be sure to get a good quality muslin. Some cheaper muslins are thin and stretchy and not worth sewing into a quilt. Also, wash in hot water first, and dry on medium to high heat to shrink. I usually wash muslin twice before I cut.

What quilt pattern are you going to use with your reproduction fabric? I have a collection also. I haven't got round to it yet.

I made one and used blue as my background...wished I had not. Should have gone with white. It was a quilt for my mother and it really didn't "fit" into her decor either, but it has in time blended quite nicely

I NEVER use white...I buy Kona Snow by the bolt..is just a little softer than pure white, also use it for redwork.

Try black; it would be striking.

I have tea dyed my white fabric and it makes it look old.....

I've seen many 30's quilts that use "that green" or yellow instead of white - beautiful!

Here's a picture of part of a quilt I am quilting right now for someone else. She used unbleached muslin for the background fabric. It is a good quality muslin and is sooooo easy to hand quilt. I'm lovin' this quilt.

Best quality unbleached domestic (muslin.) You can get it at JoAnn's and it feels like satin. You'll often find a really good sale on it or use a 40 or 50 percent coupon when it isn't on sale. froggyintexas

I have quilts that were made by my great grandmother..(I'm 67 and my mother is 88 that should give you an estimate of the time that the quilt was made) the quilts are "set up" (their term!) in a med green (not bright) and also red! They didn't aways use muslin or white. The quilts I have were also made with feed sacks and clothing that the family had worn. They are my treasures!!! The library might have a book with quilts from that time period that would give you good reference.
Happy Quilting :lol:
Shirley

unbleached muslin