Vintage European Hemp and Linen Grainsacks

Vintage grain sack fabric has become increasingly sought after in recent years and for good reason. These sacks were woven in communities in rural Europe. The sacks that I source and sell come from Hungary and surrounding countries. These fabrics were woven  prior to world  war 2. The fibres were grown and harvested then processed by peasant families. It was a lengthy process, after harvesting the hemp fibres were soaked in water ( a nearby river, lake or pond )for 6 weeks before the fibres were broken u and then spun before weaving.

These homespun, home-woven fabrics are beautiful, sturdy and characterful.  These fabrics most often have a red or blue stripe,  less common are brown, black, purple and grey. The stripes indicated to the mill the owners of the grain bought for milling. Sometimes embroidered monograms were also added

You can see how some of these fabrics have been used on my pinterest here

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Vintage linen images

 We are looking for your images!


Have you made or upholstered something from our vintage linen? Do you have an image of a parna item in situ? If so I would love to hear from you. Images may be published on social media. All shared images will receive a free vintage linen tea towel and an embroidered heart. Top 3 images will receive their choice of a vintage grain sack cushion, embroidered heart cushion or bespoke embroidered cushion. Winners announced 4 August. Please send images to kath@parna.co.uk.

Cushion cover from Kalotaszeg

Indigo dyed vintage linen table cloth

Matyo cushion cover

Cushion cover from Romanian woven fabric

Cushion covers from Kalotaszeg

Vintage Linen Rolls

We have some wonderful rolls of vintage linen just in.

These vintage linen fabrics are wonderfully characterful, versatile and durable.  They were woven, mainly in peoples homes,  before the second world war on narrow home looms. The linen  and hemp was often home grown and processed.  The home spinning resulted in threads that were not uniform- this is in part what gives these fabrics such wonderful character.

Hungarian vintage linen and hemp

We have just sourced a number of long vintage linen rolls with blue stripes. All hand woven in the 1920s-1940s on narrow home looms. The second roll down is probably Slovakian and has very unsual silver grey and some brown threads making for an interesting and unusual overall effect. We have 30+ metres of this one and have been lucky to source such an unusual fabric in such a long roll, this one is heavy and close woven and would be super for upholstery.

Some of this blue striped linen has an antique French look about it , being very similar to antique French linen which is now very difficult to find in decent quantities. This blue striped vintage linen is always popular in Sweden and looks good with painted white and grey furniture.