Dutch East India Company Textiles

Prior to the Van Loon family settling in Amsterdam, the family (one of the founders of the VOC known in the US as Dutch East India Company) traces their origins to a small village in the Netherlands. In the middle of the 17c part of the family moved to Amsterdam where the family would become “regents of the city.” The canal house turned into a museum was bought by the family in 1884 and it is still owned by the family.

For those quilters who enjoy Dutch Heritage fabrics or glories of Chintz in quilts, you will certainly understand the fascination of our visit to the family house turned museum. The family had access and dare I say the pick of the crop of the fabrics they imported to the Netherlands and the house remains decorated in the 19th century style.

What do you do when you have access to wonderful fabrics when decorating? Use those fabrics liberally on furniture walls, everywhere. To have access to these fabrics for quilts, would be amazing, but I wouldn’t dare use these actual fabrics. To have access to reproduction of these fabrics filled with sheep or monkeys or birds, would be even better for our quilts. Any fabric designers or manufacturers out there taking notes? Don’t forget that our tour of the Netherlands through textiles continues in our blog.