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American Fabrics and Fashion

American Fabrics and Fashion (also called American Fabrics) was a commercial textile magazine created as a guide for manufacturers in the fabrics industry. In every issue there are dozens of physical fabric samples glued in, so in case you were wondering, “What did the 50’s feel like?”, here is the most literal answer to your question. Accompanying the samples are textile advertisements and sometimes the samples are even incorporated into the ads themselves. For anyone interested in fashion, textiles or all that is tactile, American Fabrics is a publication of great cultural and historical value.

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We have 105 Issues of American Fabrics, 1946-1975.

American Fabrics, Number 72. 1966.

American Fabrics, Number 72. 1966.

American Fabrics, Number 69. Fall 1965.

American Fabrics, Number 69. Fall 1965.
Cover Art by W Lully.

American Fabrics, Number 71. Spring/Summer 1966.

American Fabrics, Number 71. Spring/Summer 1966.
Cover Art by W Lully.

issue85winter 69-70

American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.
Cover Art by W Lully.

72-summer66

American Fabrics, Number 72. Summer 1966.
Cover Art by W Lully.

American Fabrics, Number 2. 1947.

American Fabrics, Number 2. 1947.

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American Fabrics, Number 88. Fall 1970.

 

American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.

American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.

American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.

American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.

American Fabrics, Number 103. Spring 1975.

American Fabrics, Number 103. Spring 1975.

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American Fabrics, Number 50. Summer 1960.

American Fabrics, Number 50. Summer 1960.

American Fabrics, Number 49. Spring 1960.

American Fabrics, Number 49. Spring 1960.

American Fabrics, Number 30. Fall 1954.

American Fabrics, Number 30. Fall 1954.

American Fabrics, Number 52. Spring 1961.

American Fabrics, Number 52. Spring 1961.
(Not a picture of Supima seeds but a real packet of seeds!)

American Fabrics, Number 31. Winter 1954.

American Fabrics, Number 31. Winter 1954.

American Fabrics, Number 105. Fall 1975.

American Fabrics, Number 105. Fall 1975.

American Fabrics, Number 88. Fall 1970.

American Fabrics, Number 88. Fall 1970.

American Fabrics, Number 01.1946.

American Fabrics, Number 01.1946.

American Fabrics, Number 01.1946.

American Fabrics, Number 01.1946.

American Fabrics, Number 102.1974.

American Fabrics, Number 102.1974.

American Fabrics, Number 69.1965.

American Fabrics, Number 69. 1965.

American Fabrics, Number 30. Fall 1954.

American Fabrics, Number 30. Fall 1954.

American Fabrics, Number 86. Spring 1970.

American Fabrics, Number 86. Spring 1970.

American Fabrics, Number 87. Summer 1970.

American Fabrics, Number 87. Summer 1970.

American Fabrics, Number 104. Winter 1975.

American Fabrics, Number 104. Winter 1975.

American Fabrics, Number 02. 1947.

American Fabrics, Number 02. 1947.

American Fabrics, Number 71. Spring/Summer 1966.

American Fabrics, Number 71. Spring/Summer 1966.

American Fabrics, 1980.

American Fabrics, 1980.

FABRICS & SEWING — FABRIC SAMPLES

Not Ideas About Things But The Thing Itself

At the earliest ending of winter,
In March, a scrawny cry from outside
Seemed like a sound in his mind.

He knew that he heard it,
A bird’s cry, at daylight or before,
In the early March wind.

The sun was rising at six,
No longer a battered panache above snow…
It would have been outside.

It was not from the vast ventriloquism
Of sleep’s faded papier-mache…
The sun was coming from the outside.

That scrawny cry–It was
A chorister whose c preceded the choir.
It was part of the colossal sun,

Surrounded by its choral rings,
Still far away. It was like
A new knowledge of reality.

–Wallace Stevens

A subcategory of FABRICS & SEWING, FABRIC SAMPLES is unique to its 909 other cousin subjects in this Picture Collection family. Why? Because these are not visual representations of fabric samples, they are fabric samples. Now, that doesn’t mean that through photocopying, scanning, or rendering their likeness with your hand that you cannot transform these textured colors and colored patterns into pictures, or otherwise appropriate their likeness for your own creative ends. In fact, this is all just an invitation to do just that. Examples and examples follow:

Incidentally, you can find the above, and many other Wallace Stevens poems, in your library:

Location: Main Stacks
Call Number: PS3537.T4753 A6 1997