Cushion covers for new chairs

Over the past few years we have commissioned some beautiful furniture from Forest Edge Woodcrafts.  Gerrit Rietveld produced some amazing pieces of furniture which can be copied once for personal use. The 1919 Rietveld buffet is simply stunning and the Steltman chairs are beautiful.      https://durhamweaver64.blogspot.com/2019/09/

Martin wanted a couple of chairs for the kitchen/dining area but the design he liked had no instructions and we have not found any examples in museums in the Netherlands. Jamie from Forest Edge Woodcrafts,  https://www.instagram.com/forest_edge_woodcraft/  was set the problem of making a chair. Fortunately as he had made Rietveld furniture before, he had gained useful insights into how these iconic pieces of furniture were designed and assembled. 

Here is a detail of a corner of the chair.  It was originally made in 1925. 

The back and seat of the chair are bent to shape.  This was an extremely difficult task but makes the chair more comfortable. 

We wanted a cushion pad for the seat in navy blue.  I wove the material and decided to try to make them myself.  This was a mistake.  I can manage simple sewing but a fitted cover with piping was a new departure.  I watched several videos on YouTube and through that I would be able to manage.  I wove a long piece that would do for the top and bottom of the cushion pad.

The cover is woven in 16/2 cotton for plain weave at at 22 epi.  I then wove a narrow length for the piping cord edging and the side panels.  I thought that it would be useful to add in two pale blue ends in the warp to indicate where the material could be trimmed into a strip for the piping cord.

The process of making took much longer than I anticipated and was much more difficult. I started by  making one cushion cover. I measured and cut accurately but assembling the pieces was not as smooth as the YouTube video had shown. 

My effort was ill -fitting

The corners were particularly difficult.

It was the corners that I found most difficult and I was rather disappointed with the result.  I decided not to risk the second cushion to my inexpert sewing but took the remaining material to a stall in our local Indoor Market.  https://durhammarkets.co.uk/  This indoor market was established in 1851 and is less than 10 minutes walk away. 

The Market Hall entrance in the Market Square. 

The market is an absolute gem!  I had recently bought curtains and purchased the foam inserts for the cushions from Stitches Textiles.  I was delighted to learn that she also makes cushion covers.  The second cover was ready in a few days and I collected it this morning.  

professionally made new cushion cover 

The corner is so neat!

The difference is wonderful.  I think I will have to weave some more material and have a second cover made. 

Now we have a comfortable corner.  The mug mats that I wove on the wonderful Weave-Along with Tien Chiu and Janet Dawson in overshot are just the right colours.  Here is the link to the blog showing all the patterns I wove.  https://durhamweaver64.blogspot.com/2021/01/

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes  August 2021

Cushion Cover inspired by Bart van der Leck

I decided that I needed another cushion cover to go with the one which was inspired by Malevich. See my post for November 2014 

A couple of years ago, we visited the Netherlands to tour art galleries and in the Kroger Muller Gallery, amongst others, there were some interesting paintings by Bart van der Leck.  Bart van der Leck was a Dutch painter and  designer. Along with Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian he founded the De Stijl art movement in Amsterdam in 1917. De Stijl means the Style and was also the name of an influential magazine founded by Theo van Doesburg.

This painting attracted me and I thought would be suitable as a design to use.

I used the picture to make a pattern to see if it would be suitable.  I cut up coloured paper strips and arranged them onto a sheet of paper the size of the cushion cover.

Then I wove a number of self coloured bands to cut up to use for the design.

Single colour bands to use for the appliqued cushion cover.

I needed bands in yellow, red, blue and black. I wove a number of bands in different widths.

Cushion cover and paper pattern. 

Here is the finished cushion in place.  I am not altogether satisfied with my interpretation of the design.  I  feel that the design is too cluttered on the cushion.  it would have been improved by adapting the design and restricting it to fewer strips of colour.

So this cover is not as good as I would have liked but has given me further ideas on how to design this type of cover more successfully.




I was thrilled to see my article in the latest Journal for Weavers Spinners and Dyers.  I visited the Russian Museum of Ethnology in St Petersburg and was amazed at their beautiful collection of folk dress and artefacts. The article describes some of the collection and also shows a couple of the belts that I wove once I returned home.  The Lithuanian belt made the back cover of the issue.

Here is the list of contents for the Autumn 2016 edition number 259.  The Journal has fascinating articles with lovely colour pictures.  It is now available as an online edition.

And here is the back cover with the belt that I wove.

Happy weaving.

After September, I have decided to limit my blog to one entry per month so I can concentrate on my weaving.

Susan J Foulkes September 2016

Inspired by Malevich

A couple of weeks ago, we had a day trip to London to the Tate Modern to see the Malevich exhibition.  Kazimir Malevich was born in Kiev in 1879. His parents were Polish. His progress as a painter led to a revolution in art.

In a famous exhibition of his work in St Petersburg in 1915, The Last Futurist Exhibition 0.10, the first version of his iconic painting Black Square was exhibited.  The Tate exhibition displayed nine out of the twelve paintings in the same layout as the original exhibition.  The Black Square was placed in the corner of the room in the place which, in Russian orthodox homes, was reserved for icons, traditionally known as the red corner.

The exhibition was amazing.


I decided to make a cushion cover - inspired by Malevich .


I started by choosing colours and cutting coloured paper into strips. Black, red, blue, grey and yellow seemed appropriate.  I placed them on a sheet of paper the same size as the front of the cushion and moved them around until I had a design that I liked.  This was an interesting exercise.  I tried strips of different widths and lengths until I was satisfied.

Once I was happy with the arrangement, I wove coloured bands using cottolin.

woven bands, coloured strips and paper design.

I used iron on  bondaweb.  This ensured that when the bands were cut to size they would not fray. Also, I could iron the bands onto the material for the cushion cover so that they were fixed in place.

Ironing the bondaweb onto the bands..

           




After applying the bondaweb, I cut the bands to size and placed them on the material. Ironing the bands, stuck them onto the cloth.
             


   Rather than weave a wide blue band, I used two narrow bands together to get the width I needed.  I carefully sewed the bands around the edges.

             
This is a close up of the blue band where it crosses the grey band.  Once it was sewn in place the join was invisible.

The cushion is now in place under the poster of a painting by Malevich, Supremus No. 38 (1915 - 1916).

My cushion design inspired by Malevich.

After we had seen the Malevich exhibition, we went to the Gallery for Russian Art and Design. In their current exhibition about the First World War, there were also some illustrations by Malevich.



Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes

November 2014