Covet Garden 25 Sneak Peek: Heather's Guide to Vintage Textiles

[Heather's living room photographed by Donna Griffith]

Heather Shaw is the creative source behind the homewares company p i ' l o. She is also,  along with Joshua Gray and their kids Sebastian and Griffin, featured in the August issue of Covet Garden, which goes live on Wednesday.

[via: a beach cottage]

[Rachel Ashwell's place photographed by Holly Becker for Decor8]

Heather is also a collector of vintage clothing, linens and fabrics. So we asked her to share her favourtite tips for the sourcing of and caring for old textiles. She had so many great hints that we didn't have room for them all in the magazine. So, as a teaser for the new issue, we present more of Heather's fabric wisdom.

• The most important thing is to actually use vintage linens — don't be afraid to pull them out.

• Hand wash vintage linen in warm water with a mild detergent and always hang to dry (the sun helps whiten them as well).

• For old quilts, hang them outside on a line for up to a week if they are still smelling musty.

• Always clean items before storing them to prevent moths and stains from oxidizing.

as for sourcing them.  

• As for sourcing, there are some textile-only antique shows around Toronto [although most are in the spring — ed.]. Ebay is also good. Don't discount garage sales —people often want to get rid of old linens that they think require pressing, which means good deals for you!