The Story of Noemi
Thirty years of Sunday mornings. Thousands of pieces that found their way to the right tables, the right homes, the right hands. One booth that never moved.
Every Sunday since 1994, Noemi has packed her car before dawn, driven to the Georgetown Flea Market, and spent the morning surrounded by beautiful things. Not because it was a business plan. Because it was the only way she wanted to spend a Sunday.
The linens she carries aren't antiques in the distant, untouchable sense. They're objects made to be used — tablecloths that belonged on dinner tables, napkins that were pressed and folded for company, bed linens that were gifts for a wedding. They just happen to have been made with a level of care that's almost impossible to find in anything new.
A Life at the Market
Noemi sets up her first booth at the Georgetown Flea Market with a folding table, a handful of pieces she'd collected over the years, and no particular plan to stay. She stays.
Interior designers start making the Sunday trip specifically for Noemi's booth. She develops a reputation for finding European linens that other dealers overlook — Provençal embroidery, Belgian damask, Irish linen monogrammed sets still in their original wrapping.
Collectors, decorators, and eventually diplomats become regulars. She turns down a national television feature. Then another. The booth — and the Sunday ritual — is exactly where she wants to be.
Decades of handling thousands of pieces develops something close to a sixth sense. She can date a tablecloth by its weave, identify a region by its embroidery style, and spot a genuine antique linen from across a crowded estate sale. Regulars learn to trust her completely.
The same booth. The same spot. New pieces every week. A community of collectors who've been coming since the beginning — and new ones who stumble in for the first time and immediately understand why they won't be leaving empty-handed.
What She Looks For
After thirty years of handling linens from across Europe and America, Noemi has developed an almost instinctive sense for quality. She can feel the difference between machine-made and hand-hemstitched. She knows what a proper linen weight should feel like, how a genuine damask weave catches the light, what distinguishes a factory monogram from one worked by hand.
She buys what she loves. Everything at the booth has passed that test.
Hemstitching, hand-rolled hems, drawn-thread work — signs of a maker who cared.
Each piece is dated as accurately as possible. If she's uncertain, she says so.
A particular love for French, Belgian, Irish, and Italian linen traditions.
Gently used or never used. Never sold with concealed damage.
Georgetown on a Sunday
The Georgetown Flea Market has been running since 1976 in the parking lot of Hardy Middle School on 35th Street. On any given Sunday morning you'll find antique dealers, vintage clothing vendors, jewelry makers, and collectors from across the mid-Atlantic.
Noemi's booth has been in the same location for over thirty years. You'll know it when you see it — the linens are always beautifully laid out, the prices are written by hand, and there's usually a small crowd gathered around the table.
Every piece is waiting for the right home
Browse the collection online, or come find us on a Sunday morning. Either way — there's something here for you.