I have been given the most beautiful printed fabric in shades of blue and cream. I fell in-love immediately, almost rivalling how much I like Mr M, but let's not mention that to him.
The gorgeous illustrated birds in flight amidst exotic flowers has been hand illustrated with 4 or 5 different shades of blue depicting the detail. The birds, in various motions, are simply illustrated, with the various shades detailing their feathers.
The blues gradually lighten and darken making shadows amidst the petals and the birds wings. The larger leaves look almost like bamboo or willow, alongside the blue colour palette, I'm sure the print has been inspired by the orient.
I would date this fabric back to the 1910's or 1920's. It unfortunately has suffered through the years, but it is clear it has been displayed for people's enjoyment. And after all that is what printed fabrics are created for. The cotton has been woven, and unfortunately in certain areas this has worn thin.
I've had the fabric a little while. It was found at the bottom of a trunk and had clearly been folded away several years. Unfortunately there are a few fold lines across the print.
I wanted to use the blue bird print fabric for something extra special, where the fabric could be seen everyday and bring joy to the users, myself and Mr M.
Mr M. and I have recently had our living room decorated in pale eau de nil, by Laura Ashley. Its a fresh blue and green colour, welcoming and warm. This colour would have been popular around the Victorian era but probably not used in a living room but more likely in a bedroom or bathroom.
Fittingly, the blue bird fabric was perfect to sit in the room. There was not much of the fabric, so it had to be used sparingly. I had just enough to make two cushions for our sofa and a little left over for Marie-Reine.
Our sofa is our pride and joy in the living room. It took us almost six months to choose the perfect sofa. Although it usually isn't such an ordeal for most people, it really was for us. We're rather particular about comfort and height.
After having sampled most sofa's across London, old and new, we ended up splashing out for a rather expensive sofa. However, it's deep enough to curl your legs up, and low enough for my extremely short legs!
I decided against piping around the edges to keep the cushion simple and focus attention on the print itself. The original lining fabric, in cream, the blue bird fabric was attached to was used as the backing fabric. This may have been a mistake as it is extremely thin and frail and has already worn thin. We'll call it character!
Marie V
No comments:
Post a Comment