Saturday, October 16, 2010

My New Vintage Sanderson Cushions

I have been sewing again...finally. I just haven't felt the inspiration to sew in the last few months so many of my ideas have been put on hold for a while. During the school holidays I found a roll of vintage Sanderson fabric in the roof of Mum and Dad's garage and all of a sudden I felt the urge to create! Mum bought this roll of fabric 25 years ago for a project which never eventuated and I was thrilled to put some of it to use.
I grew up with a Mum who loved antiques and rarely bought new furniture. She believed that older furniture had stood the test of time and would continue to do so in the future. Our sofa was 50+ years old and had several coverings in it's time in our house. My sister and I had beautiful hand carved beds in French Provincial style with all the matching furniture. We grew up in Melbourne and on many an occasion we tagged along to antique shops. I really didn't appreciate it at the time but now that I have discovered a love of classic design, I really do!
I decided to make a couple of feature cushions for our bed. I love the retro colours in the fabric and the texture of the fabric is divine. The linen, yellow, green and soft aqua are a great combination and I was even able to use two vintage zips in my covers. The secret to a great cushion is the inner...it has to be feather. Poly inners are very quick to lose their "bounce" and go flat, where as feather inners stay plump for ages. My new "old" cushions deserved new feathers inners. :-)
I was really happy with how they turned out and Mum and Dad enjoyed seeing the fabric being put to use. Finishing these two cushions has inspired me to start making the effort to be a bit more creative in my spare time. The feeling of creating or sewing something new just can't be topped!
As for my cushions, if I had my way I would track down a copy of Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl to go on our wall. These once common prints are so popular and always end up going for loads so at this stage I think my cushions will need to be the star of the show. :-)

No comments: