Morning Blue — Vintage Shanghai Chaoyang Check Cotton
Estimated early People’s Republic period · Lightweight, soft and breathable traditional hand-spun cotton (owner attribution)
Cloth · People · Places · Time
An Atlas of Chinese Homespun Textiles
Documenting handwoven cloth, patterns and the stories carried in every thread.
What is Tubu?
More than “vintage fabric.”
Tubu Atlas treats each textile as a documented object. Region, period, yarn, weave, printing, motif, condition and dimensions remain attached to the record even after a piece is sold.
Read the introduction →
A new way to wander · 云上布店Make yourself
Make yourself
at home.
Take a cloth off the shelf. Unroll it. Imagine what it could become.
Explore our virtual shopAtlas
Explore by region
Start geographically, then move across technique, pattern and period.
Making
Explore by technique
The same region can hold many different making processes.
Featured object
A permanent object record
Availability can change. The archive record stays.
TA-SH-0001
Hai Shang Ji Hua — Shanghai Shepherd’s Purse Picked-Weave Textile
- Region
- Shanghai
- Period
- c. 1940s–1960s
- Material
- Cotton
- Dimensions
- Approx. 200 × 41 cm
A rare Shanghai-area tiaohua cloth in which tiny four-petal flowers are woven directly into a deep blue checked ground rather than printed or embroidered on the surface.
View textile record →Documentation
Newly documented
Recent additions, whether available or already archived.
Republican Blue & Violet — Vintage Chinese Handwoven Cotton
Estimated Republican era (pre-1949) · Traditional hand-spun Xiao Hua Sha 小花纱 cotton, thick, exceptionally soft and fluffy (owner attribution)
Violet Peonies — Vintage Chinese Floral Cotton
Estimated early People’s Republic period · Substantial, thick and soft traditional hand-spun, handwoven cotton (owner attribution)
Diamond Harmony — Vintage Chinese Geometric Cotton
Estimated Republican era–early People’s Republic period · Substantial, thick and soft traditional hand-spun cotton (owner attribution)
Shop
Textiles on Etsy
Explore the cloth and its story here. Visit the Etsy listing for current availability, price and delivery details.
Morning Blue — Vintage Shanghai Chaoyang Check Cotton
Estimated early People’s Republic period · Lightweight, soft and breathable traditional hand-spun cotton (owner attribution)
Two shades of blue alternate through little white checks in this soft Shanghai–Chongming homespun. Known in the supplied account as Chaoyang Ge, or Morning Sun Check; sold in 50 × 33 cm units.
Republican Blue & Violet — Vintage Chinese Handwoven Cotton
Estimated Republican era (pre-1949) · Traditional hand-spun Xiao Hua Sha 小花纱 cotton, thick, exceptionally soft and fluffy (owner attribution)
Mellow blue, violet stripes, natural white checks and fine red accents meet in thick, exceptionally soft Xiao Hua Sha cotton. One complete vintage length, approx. 190 × 49 cm.
Violet Peonies — Vintage Chinese Floral Cotton
Estimated early People’s Republic period · Substantial, thick and soft traditional hand-spun, handwoven cotton (owner attribution)
Lavender peonies, gentle green leaves and small lilac ornaments bloom against coral red, framed by deep blue lattice. One substantial, soft reclaimed cotton piece, approx. 100 × 43 cm.
Diamond Harmony — Vintage Chinese Geometric Cotton
Estimated Republican era–early People’s Republic period · Substantial, thick and soft traditional hand-spun cotton (owner attribution)
Cobalt-blue and jade-green striped triangles form interlocking diamonds, crossed by coral-red dotted lines on natural cotton. One unit is 100 × 50.5 cm; both units receive the full 214 cm length.
Journal
Stories from the Atlas
Evergreen knowledge pages designed to support both research and search discovery.
Craft & Making
Chinese Blue Printed Cloth: More Than One Printing Tradition
Explore Chinese blue printed cotton, Nantong paste-resist dyeing, handwoven tubu, and why vintage cloth can reflect different printing traditions.
Craft & Making · Traditional weaving
From Cotton to Cloth — The Making of Chinese Homespun
Discover how traditional Chinese homespun cotton was made, from preparing fibres and spinning yarn to warping and handloom weaving, with original Nantong textile examples.
Patterns & Meanings · Fruit symbolism
Three Abundances — The Wish for a Blessed Life
Why peaches, pomegranates and Buddha’s hand are known as the Three Abundances — and how a vintage Nantong fruit-basket cloth tells a related story of blessing.
Archive
Sold pieces do not disappear
Objects remain searchable after sale, preserving photography, attribution and notes.
Qilin Bringing a Child — Nantong Indigo Textile
c. 1950s · Homespun cotton
Indigo Diamond Lattice — Vintage Nantong Handwoven Cotton
Mid-20th century (estimated) · Old cotton described as handspun, handwoven plain weave
Our approach
Document first. Attribute carefully.
Each record separates observable facts from attribution. Confidence can be confirmed, probable, estimated or under review, so the archive can improve without losing its history.
How we document →