To ask you what the name of this type of tableware is?

[TheNosehasit]

Does anyone know what the tableware is called (if indeed it's called anything) which is usually blue sort of intricate drawings on the plates?

I know they used to be given as wedding presents years ago and our one posh aunt only brought them out on special occasions. I hated them at the time (about 40 years ago) as they were fussy and I always felt that you couldn't quite see what you were eating lol.

Now however, I've had a change of heart coupled with a touch of nostalgia. I yearn for a simpler time when the fine china was brought out and the chipped mugs were only used by family. But I can't for the life of me know what to google in order to find them! They may been a common style or they may have been a particular brand?

My parents bought me a 6 place setting set of Blue Willow as a housewarming present when I bought my first house in 1982. I still use it every day and still love it.

It's really easy to replace bits when you break one. And I've added bits to it over the years, like a cream jug, soup bowls, and a big serving plate.

I fantasise about having a farmhouse kitchen with a big fuck off dresser, with all my Blue Willow on the shelves ...

Yeah, what you should have done is buy up a whole load of cheap Willow Pattern, create an MN nostalgia thread to create interest and up demand, then flog the whole lot at vastly inflated prices.

We use Willow Pattern on a daily basis. I have a mixture of pieces, some bought from Woolworth's in the 90's, some are Wedgwood, and some are from the 1920's. They're really thick and heavy! I also have some pieces from during or just after the war. They're Wedgwood but have so many faults that they wouldn't even pass as seconds these days.
My favourite pieces are a huge jug and the teapot.

Try Washington Old Willow and Enoch Wood English Scenery as alternatives on eBay too.

@FallopianTubeTrain Oh my word, Eternal Beau - or as my work colleague (who was engaged at the time and collecting the stuff) would call it, Eternal B.O.

I got a complete set of Eternal Beau as a wedding present. I foolishly sent it to the charity shop years ago.

My nan still has that set I think , looking at prices I might get her to ebay them

She can ebay them to me?

Yes, it was the green that reminded me I had that jug!

The story behind the willow pattern is both tragic and beautiful.

Ok I admit it.

i have blue and white crockery in my kitchen. Only blue and white. And all my plates etc are mismatched items and some of these patterns on this thread.

I have a couple of willow pattern items. Lots of Johnson brothers. Some Denby. 60s cornishware. I love ceramics and collect little pieces here and there.

your cupboards would traumatise me 😂

I don't know where I got my willow pattern plates from but I doubt very much they were expensive. The dinner plates are very flat so much better as a lunch plate for a sandwich and some crisps, I mean cucumber and tomato.
I've always loved blue and have some inherited and bought myself delft too.

I was going to say this as well. I have alot of vintage china including alot of willow pattern (and Spode!) and almost all of it has come from charity shops.

My Nanna had a friend, Dora and Dora only drank out of a China cup! So my mum gave one to me for the odd occasion she came round for a cup of tea and slice of ‘snow cake’ - aka coconut sponge!

None of it is a matching set though! I use everything all the time. My favourite is a pale green and cream set of english country scenes. But this (not vintage granted) is what I drink my afternoon tea in every single day.

My Grandma and Grandad had willow pattern for everyday and mid winter for best, so this is really nostalgic!

The fancy China of my childhood! My parents for the entire eternal beau set when they got married we even had a knife sharpener on the design

I've got a breakfast set in that design.
My dad gave it to me when he won it in a raffle!
It's so beautiful.

Spanish Garden! My grandparents had that, and it makes me feel all fuzzy.

My mil has a tea cup and saucer. It is so fine and delicate it is almost translucent. I refuse to even touch it, I'm praying I don't inherit it. It will last a week under my care. We looked it up and just one cup and saucer is worth around £200. She sold me that she was at her friends house when she was about 12. Her friends mum gave them both a cup and saucer each. She is now in her 80's and still in touch with her friend. The friend can't remember what happened to hers or where her mum got them. But what a lovely thing to give to a couple of young girls.

Ha!

it all started with DS constantly breaking plates so I’d buy a random charity shop one from the pile of odd plates. Then it eveolved into every plate being different but the pattern was blue and white so they work together but don’t match.

i am building a coffee set up of this pattern though. It’s taking me years just looking in charity shops.

What a lovely thing! You will be very much the favoured DIL if you do inherit said cup!

My grandmother was the same with her teacup. When I went to visit, I would wash up the dishes (was only allowed to do this when she was well into her 80's) but I was NOT allowed to wash her cup lol. She wouldn't say it outright, she'd say 'oh no TheNose, I still have a bit left'. That was code for 'I don't trust you not to break it!'

I think I could find a hobby in this too!
More in trying to find a complete collection.

If I see one shoe on its own somewhere in my house, I have a compulsion which means that I absolutely MUST find its comrade before I can proceed. 😆

It's very ahead of its time in that it's not round!