Summer Blues Pastoral Tablescape
A sweet summer table set with thrifted blue and white dishes, pretty florals and a homemade cream tea with clotted cream and scones
I'm welcoming summer with my favorite color - BLUE and some of my favorite things - vintage dishes, blue check, flowers and cream tea!
I recently shared some fun facts about when I was 18 and lived in England for
8 months! If you missed that, you can catch up
here on IG or
here on FB. It definitely sparked some interest! So many of you have visited and love
England and all things British as well, including cream tea!
I will link to the recipes I used for my easy homemade scones and the clotted
cream, but first let me show you more of this pretty table.
Summer Blues Pastoral Tablescape
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Blue has long been my favorite color to decorate with, and when I started hunting for vintage ironstone in thrift stores, I fell in love with blue and white transferware as well!
What is transferware?
Transferware is printed pottery, primarily earthenware or ironstone, but can be found on porcelain and bone china as well. The pottery had a pattern applied by transferring a print from a copper plate to a specialty paper and finally to the pottery.
The process began in the second half of the 18th century, due to the British middle class high demand for affordable dinnerware. Thousands of patterns were produced, many of them are identified by their floral or pastoral print.
Initially, the English makers copied patterns from the popular Chinese chinoiserie hand painted porcelain, but before long they began to create European features in their designs.
Today, these pieces are highly sought after by collectors such as myself. You
can find transferware in all different colors. For years, blue was the only
color I collected until I spotted a set of red and white transferware
Christmas plates that had to come home with me! Today, I'm slowly adding brown
and white transferware pieces to my collection. Sometimes you can't find a
single piece, which is why I came up with a inexpensive decoupage method using
printed napkins.
You can see how I created my own faux transferware last Fall, adding the
pattern to a couple pieces of my ironstone, as well as a pumpkin
centerpiece.
I don't collect a particular pattern, I love to mix and match patterns. They
all look good together, in my opinion! You can see both a Chinese inspired
pattern, as well as more European patterns on my dishes.
Setting a pastoral blues tablescape
I started with a foundation piece,
this darling yellow daisy tablecloth
with fringed edges. Use my exclusive coupon code Cindy15 to save 15% off
sitewide at
Ownkoti.
I tore strips of blue and white fabric and tied them around
these striped linen napkins. This soft blue pairs wonderfully with the darker color of the transferware
pieces.
I decorated a candle with tiny little daisy like paper flowers, to add to the
theme. I found these flowers at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbook section. A little
ribbon bow on top adds a touch of blue.
Watch this short video tutorial to see how I did it.
The vacant lot across the street was filled with wildflowers, so I took my
watering can,
gardening snips
and brought home a bucketful of wildflowers. The white flowers look pretty on
the table, while the yellow coreopsis was added to the
white wicker basket
hanging on my chippy window.
I recently purchased
these blue gingham ruffled pillow covers
and the color is absolutely perfect with the rest of my blue and white decor
pieces. They add a little coziness to the
chalk painted spindle chairs.
I felt like I was sitting down for cream tea at a cute and cozy English tea
shoppe, so what did I do? I made scones and clotted cream and enjoyed them all
week long!
What is a cream tea?
Cream tea is a British afternoon snack that typically consists of scones with jam and clotted cream, as well as hot tea. I didn't realize how hotly the British debate the correct order of applying the jam and cream to a scone, especially where cream tea is most loved and appreciated (the counties of Devon and Cornwall). Apparently, if you're from Devon, it's called Devonshire tea (or Devon tea) and the clotted cream is always added first, followed by jam. In Cornwall, Cornish cream tea involves adding the jam first, followed by the clotted cream. In the end, it's the same stuff and tastes the same, which is amazing!
The word clotted cream is not very appealing! Don't let the name put you off,
there's nothing chunky or 'clotted' about the cream, it's like if butter and
whip cream had a baby - smooth, creamy, buttery deliciousness! The clotted
cream was much easier to make than I expected, and took less than 30 minutes!
It elevates a scone to epic deliciousness! Watch
this short video
to see how I eat it all together and to see a close up of the clotted
cream. As I'm typing this up, I am craving a cream tea again, and will
need to make some more!
I followed the recipes from
Tales From the Kitchen, a blog by Sarah who lives in Wales. It's good and very easy, although I did
find the directions weren't super specific. If I make clotted cream again,
I'll take pics along the way and add them here. I did change up her recipe
slightly, adding some powdered sugar to my cream to slightly sweeten it.
I'm curious - have you ever had cream tea?
bringing beauty to the ordinary,
All you have to say is Pastoral and I'm there! Okay, and the word transferware. I love your entire dining area and would love to sit at that table with you. I have a hard time finding transferware around me too. I want more red/pink and green. I've just about given up. Great info on transferware too. pinned
ReplyDeleteThanks Cindy, I'd love to have a cup of coffee and hang out! I agree, it's so hard to find now, with so many people appreciating it! Do you own any brown pieces? That's what I'm currently hunting for!
DeleteWhat a beautiful table! I love blue and white transferware. I have some pieces that I inherited from both of my grandmothers. Your collection is amazing. I have never had clotted cream or been to England. I will have to put both on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteThank you Melanie! You are lucky to have inherited special dishes from your grandmothers, I'll bet you love using and displaying them! I'm hoping to share my own, updated clotted cream recipe...it is SO good!
DeleteI would love to know more about 'pastoral print'. What does it mean, and how did it come about? Did I miss that in the post?
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, I should have said something about it. It simply means having to do with farmlands, grazing sheep and cattle, etc. Think English countryside 😉
DeletePopping in to say I have only one small brown and white transferware plate and I cherish it! Also, thank you for sharing this on Farmhouse Friday. I'm featuring it tomorrow. pinned :)
ReplyDeleteThat tablecloth is DARLING!! Such a pretty base to showcase all of your wonderful vintage dishes. What a lovely table setting...the blue and white is perfect for this time of the year!
ReplyDeleteThank you, so happy you love it too!
Delete