Sunday, January 27, 2013

Been really busy.....


 
Sorry if I’ve been really quiet of late but business has been calling me back to it. First with the Christmas rush and now trying to get my website updated.

 
All these pillows, forty in all so far, are going up on my website but I’ve run into a little snag with that…..my program won’t update so time for mister man to come see what is going on with that. Thank the heavens for a computer geek husband.

 
In the meantime I’ve been tossing my pillows into a pile and they’ll be going on the racks once loaded onto my website. It’s easier to keep them in a pile and take them away once they’re loaded so I don’t forget any.
 
 
Since I deal only in antique fabrics it takes a great deal of time to simply find them. Not like you can walk into a shop and find what I work with laying about. But luckily I have great dealers to source items from.

 
Once purchased about half require cleaning, restoration and then if they’re for pillows I have to make them up. I do all my own sewing, I’m a one-woman operation and everything I work with is time consuming. I even source out antique trims the one on the long tapestry pillow is 18th century.

 
This little putti guy needed a bit of restoration and that 17th century trim had to be hand sewn down first because it liked to move on the silk velvet when machine sewn. Everything took me two weeks just for this one pillow alone. But as you can see from the finished results it was so worth the effort and he might have to hang around a little while longer.
 
That simple looking striped pillow on the far right side is actually called Les Toiles Flammees or a cotton/linen ikat and it’s from the 18th century. The threads are dyed before weaving to produce the flame like color.
 
 
If you’re a lover of Fortuny fabrics I have a lot of early patterns going up this update and all pairs which designers love. I keep the pillows very simple since the Fortuny speaks for itself.


 
There are plenty of tapestry pillows too. The front one with the crabs in the crest is finely woven of silk and wool and once a chairback so it’s a very large pillow.
 

There’s even a 17th century Amice vestment pillow woven from silk and metal threads. An Amice would have been worn around a Priest’s neck during special services.
 
So that’s what I’ve been up to these past few months keeping my nose to the grind stone and minding business. If you notice anything that has caught your eye please don’t hesitate to ask.  
I hope you all are having a terrific start to the New Year and enjoying each day to its fullest.
 
XXX
~Debra~
 
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