These antique fabrics from the turn of the century are unexpectedly bright & colorful

When looking at antique black and white drawings and sepia photos of the past, many of us slip into imagining that everything back then looked muted and monochromatic.

It can be difficult to visualize vibrant colors and patterns in those old images — even when we know that they were really there.

To help you rebuild that little picture in your mind’s eye, we have gathered images of more than 100 antique fabrics from the late Victorian era — the late 1890s and the early 1900s — although some are older.

These vintage textiles feature florals, tiny patterns, plaids, stripes, dots, paisley styles and other beautiful classic designs, and would have been used for everything from dresses to nightshirts, and bedspreads to sofa cushions. 

It won’t be hard to spot more than a few that would be just as at home on modern clothing and home decor!

Below you will see samples of 69 different antique fabrics that were in production in 1902. These all come from a German chemical manufacturer of dyes, etc. that soon thereafter became best known for one of their very different commercial chemicals: Aspirin.

The company is Bayer, known around the globe still today. (As an interesting side note, “Heroin” was a Bayer invention, and they held the trademark until World War I. It was marketed as a cough suppressant.) All of these images are courtesy of the New York Public Library.