oilcloth, our take

 cath kidston's boats oilcloth, thirty-two pounds a meter

life in the fergusandme family is a swirling hurly burly of craft projects, icing cupcakes, painting random pieces of furniture, and slurping spaghetti hoops (teds!), and to counteract all that mess, we have become devotees of oilcloth, in its many prints and patterns. To say that it is a life saver around here would be putting it mildly, to be honest.  we generally get ours from John Lewis in the U.K., dragging back duffels loaded with yards and yards of it, but oilcloth is becoming more popular and accessible in the United States, perhaps because of trend toward sustainability, reusability, and vintage chic. Or maybe it's just the ubiquity (and i mean that in a positive way) of Cath Kidston's design ethos. We've used oilcloth to cover kitchen chairs, create wall panels in kids' rooms, upholster entire walls (it's easy to do as the fabric has a heft that others don't), and, of course, protect our Crate & Barrel Big Sur kitchen table, which we love, from the aforementioned paint, glue, glitter, and spaghetti hoops.
(photo courtesy of cathkidston.co.uk)




here are some more oilcloth sources and ideas ~

 

thanks to bowiestyle over at printandpattern.blogspot.com for this note about John Lewis's "apples" oilcloth ~

(photo courtesy of bowiestyle) 

check out justwipe.co.uk for lots of fun prints, like these ~ (thanks to Lisa and her excellent site u-handbag.typepad.com for this link, also check out the amazing bag she made using oilcloth -- we've never been this adventurous!)

(photo courtesy of u-handbag)

 

there are lots of lovely Marimekko oilcloth options at txtlart.com, like these ~

(photos courtesy of txtlart.com)

and, we can't forget the lovely offerings at pedlars.co.uk

(photo courtesy of pedlars)