Sunday, March 15, 2009

from the 70s

before

This is what the new palette was about -a recent thrift find. I really like the shape of this chair, and even if I am not particularly fond of the colour, I thought I would keep it like this anyway.
I wanted the seat cover to have a geometric pattern, but not too evident, to suit the colour of the frame and obviously to resist normal wear and tear. The choice was a diamond twill, and as weft I used a skein of wool unevenly dyed with cochineal, so that subtle stripes would show. I slightly fulled it after weaving, so as to make it firmer, and suitable for upholstery.


handwoven fabric

after

close up

Once finished comes the best part - the photo session! I realized how difficult it is to take decent pictures of handwoven fabrics, how the real colours are difficult to capture, even in natural light, and I am slowly learning - trial and error - what looks good and what doesn't. And never ever without a trypod!

7 comments:

Life Looms Large said...

Wow - you made that chair look great!! That definitely takes design vision.

I really should dig out the tripod....especially as I'm about to post a blurry picture. Ugh!

The twill design you chose looks really good with the chair. (And the wall-hanging adds to the scene!)

Sue

Anonymous said...

It looks to me like you know what you're doing. These are beautiful, inspiring pictures. The fabric you wove is luscious

Anonymous said...

I hope you won't mind that I've named you in this post!

I love your chair, the twill is perfect for that clean shape.

Anonymous said...

That chair looks great! Good job. I just wish I could touch it. Sit on it maybe too. Is the chair comfy?

And your photography looks really nice. Great job in that department as well.
Maybe I should think about digging out a tripod.

Anonymous said...

Hi Doni
Beautiful weaving for a fabulous chair.

Kim said...

Lovely work! I am not such a big fan of retro modern furniture, but the fabric really changes it's whole character... I really like how it turned out!

Donatella said...

Thank you everyone for your kind comments! I'm really having fun with chairs recently - in this one I had to change the padding of the seat, now it's thicker but comfortable all the same. I stole my dad's staple gun hehe! More on the way...