About Us

       Our entire online image catalog is from founder Valerie Vavrik's personal collection of antique books. Her love of ornate old books, especially ones from the Victorian era, began over 25 years ago and now numbers over 1,500. Val began carefully scanning, cleaning up and restoring these images to share with others after one of her graphic design customers (Liz from Quiltworks Northwest) asked her to put some on an image CD so Liz's customers could use them in quiltmaking. Liz introduced Val to printing on fabric which opened a whole new world of ideas.

        Liz and her team sewed samples using Val's images printed on fabric and featured Val's restored art CDs in her booth at the Sew & Stitchery Expo in March, 2002. People loved the images, the image CDs sold out every day of the show, and VV's Victorian Prints was established.

[picture]        Valerie spends hours carefully scanning (so as not to damage the books), cleaning and restoring the images on her computer (removing stains, yellow cast, rips, tears, pen and pencil marks, etc.). It is amazing that the images, many well over 100 years old, have survived as well as they have. Although extensive clean up is sometimes needed, Valerie strives to maintain the integrity of the artwork, leaving things reflecting the style and charm of the era (ie: colors extending over the line, texturing, etc.).

       Much of the art from the 1800s is black & white. If an image is available (in the book) in color, it is scanned in color. Sometimes Valerie adds a little touch of color for fun (but always includes the original black & white on the CD as well). All images are saved as TIFs (useable by graphics programs for both PCs and Macs).

       You don't need special software to use our images. We do recommend dragging the image you are working with onto your hard drive so things work faster. Plus you can save any changes (size, colors, etc.) you make to the image that way. You can insert one of our images (just like clip art) into a WORD document adjust the size (or crop) as needed and print it from that program. With some programs you can print the black & white images in color (to match a fabric, room decor, etc.). If you have Photoshop or something similar you can actually open the images and create duotones, sepias or add your own custom colorization to the black & white images.

       Be sure to try our inkjet-compatible cotton poplin, 6 varieties of silk, and now bamboo fabric sheets, either with our restored vintage images or your own photos or family pictures. After extensive testing and working with the manufacturer, we chose these fabric sheets because of their colorfastness and washability. The cotton fabric sheets are affordable and perfect for your family memory quilt. Photographers love the silk fabric sheets to showcase their art, and clothing designers enjoy layering with the variety of silks we offer. Our new bamboo fabric sheets are perfect for nature-themed quilts and wall hangings and for fabric artists who like to combine techniques (e.g. silkscreening, stamping or painting, with COLORHUE silk dyes). Here is a photo of Val's family quilt.

       Please sign up on our email mailing list so we can notify you when new products become available or go on sale. EMAIL US Come back and visit our website (vvprints.com) which is continually being updated.

Please Note: While our restored vintage images are protected by copyright, as long as you purchase the CD, you can do just about anything you want with the images.   Here is more information about the Copyright.

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