Barleyloom

This shirt is made using a 1960s chenille bedspread from rural Pennsylvania, sourced at a local antique market after being passed down through a family for generations.

Chenille bedspreads surged in popularity across postwar America, when the prosperity of the era brought a new appetite for color, texture, and a little domestic extravagance into the home. The tufted, looped weave is signature to the decade, produced on specialized chenille looms that turned small Georgia mill towns into the heart of a booming national industry.

This particular bedspread carries decades of handling and quiet family history in its warm brown and yellow palette, worn soft by years of use before being reborn as fabric for wear. Each piece is cut and finished by hand to preserve the original texture and weight of the material.