» Fabric

Sister Parish

laura — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:48:00 +0000

The entire Sister Parish lineage has long been inspiring to me. Albert Hadley and Bunny Williams, who i have written about many times, and Terry Sullivan, for whom I worked in design school. In Vogue’s May 2010 issue I was happy to see a nod to her.

While working on schemes this week for a green and white bedroom I was reminded of Ramey Caulkin’s fun green and white bedroom that used many of Sister Parish’s fabrics.

Her granddaughter and protege, Susan Bartlett Crater and Libby Cameron have successfully kept Sister Parish’s prints in demand by opening Sister Parish Design.

They also wrote a tribute to her, which I consider to be required reading.

Sister Parish was able to remain timeless in her designs. I have always loved the Master Bedroom at the White House that she designed for President and Mrs. Kennedy. It still looks current.

I discovered an interesting fact while reading (please don’t tell anyone) Wikipedia – Sister Parish and Dorothy Draper were cousins!

Sister Parish- I can never get enough.

Photos Credits: via Sara Gilband, Vogue May 2010, via The Peak of Chic, Ramey Caulkins (Coastal Living July 2009), Sister Parish Design, via Design Public

new to textiles

laura — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:00:16 +0000

Part of my job requires me to stay current on new lines of textiles. I was excited to see a write up in the May issue of Vogue on textile designer Idarica Gazzoni who is based in Italy. Her fabrics are colorful, chic and unique.

For a few months I have been eager for Parlor Textiles based here in North Carolina to get the website up and preview their fabrics. Style Court has given great coverage to their lines this past week.

Fun fabrics are a great way to keep things fresh!

Patterned Textiles

laura — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:00:27 +0000

It is rare for me to work on a project without incorporating pattern somewhere. I love textile design whether fabrics or wallpaper. Steven Gambrel does this so well, and how smart that there is a tight image of the pattern early in the photograph to the left.

Whether used on headboards, wallpaper, as art, throw pillows or bedding, patterns add so much visual interest to a room.

Do you love a wallpaper of fabric and want to use it in a small amount? Turning it into art is a great way to incorporate it into your home.

One of my favorite textile designers based in London is Aleta.

You can read about the interesting process for her textile design here.

Old persian rugs are often inspirational to textile designers. The colors in this antique suzani are outstanding.

I wrote a post in the early fall about Indigo Resist fabrics. You can click here to read it if you missed it.

Do you love pattern as much as I do?

Photo Credits: Steven Gambrel (1), Sarah Laird (2,4), Richard Keith Langham (3), Anne Becker photography by Simon Upton for Elle Decor(6), Katrin Cargill (5), via House Beautiful (9)

Indigo Resist

laura — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:05:50 +0000

Sir Isaac Newton was the first theorist to define the color Indigo as one of the deepest blues, and it has long been considered one of the most favorable blue dyes to work with because of many of its natural properties. His color circle which included Indigo was the basis for the color charts that followed.

A book that I have enjoyed reading through this summer is America’s Indigo Blues: Resist-printed and Dyed Textiles of the Eighteenth Century by Florence Pettit. Resist printing is a technique that has been used by many cultures for centuries. A method is used so that the color is resisted on many parts of the fabric. The most common way to do this is with a wax pattern. Nowadays the wax is applied to a cloth to make a stencil and then is dipped into an indigo dye for about an hour, but in many old cultures the fabrics were left to sit for a few days. The reason that this was done with indigo dye is it is the only dye that when submerged into cold water would not heavily run. Once the wax would chip away the printing was complete. Often little veins of color would run, this is how you can tell an original from a reprint. This beautiful Indigo resist print was probably made in 1870 in Europe.

Indigo Batik is one of the oldest forms of resist printing with wax. I love this pattern printed on cotton.

Ikat is another form of resist printing and the reproduction fabrics have become quite popular as the threads are dyed and then woven.

There are many regions in Japan that are famous for their indigo resist prints and kasuri fabrics.

Kasuri fabrics are Japanese Ikat’s. Donghia has recreated these in 100% cotton.

William Morris became interested in designing printed textiles in the 1870’s. Susan Bosence’s book Hand Block Printing and Resist Dyeing says, “His loathing of those accursed ‘Prussian blues’ led him (Morris) to more tireless research into woal and indigo dyeing. He and his dyers built an indigo vat 9 ft. deep, holding 1,000 gal, requiring five dyers to operate it, and ‘very pretty it was to see the silk, coming green out of the vat and gradually turning blue’. His own talent, his own reading and research, his own experiments in design and dyeing – the continuity from the first to last – were the essential ingredients for the excellence of Morris’s work”. His 1883 pattern “Rose and Thistle” was made an evolved form of resist printing called Indigo Discharge. This is where the bleaching agent was block printed on to the fabric to lighten the background.

Do you love these fabrics as well?

Indigo Fabrics, Indigo Girls, Mood Indigo- I like it all.

Photo Credits: Colourlovers.blogspot.com (1,2) courtesy of quilt and textile historian Deborah Roberts http://worldofquiltstravel.com (3) ThingsAsian.com (4) F. Schumacher (5) Donghia (6) historicalstyle.com