I have fallen in love with vintage French fabrics. I have always admired them but never been exactly sure what to do with them… until yesterday. As I was dunking myself in the swimming pool for the zillionth time (I can’t even describe how hot it has been this week… it is impossible to concentrate… so please forgive me if I ramble here… broken sleep and lethargy don’t make for a good stream of consciousness) I looked back at our undercover shade area and all the Moroccan cushions strewn about on the sofas. That is when the light bulb went off… I am going to change them… I am going to start collecting scraps of vintage fabrics in the markets this winter and make new cushion covers to create a vintage floral fantasy by the pool.
The sofas make up a lounging area… very simple but it is a great place to read and relax when the sun is at its strongest or you have just had enough of a good thing… There are so many cushions… so this new idea will take time and no doubt drive me crazy… but that hasn’t stopped me before… and besides, I will have a new focus for collecting. One of my great friends has been collecting vintage snippets forever and she has a brilliant flair for putting them together in her home, so I am hoping we can hunt together… I like the idea of a riot of colour and a jumble of prints… this will be such a change from the subdued and earthy colours that we have at the moment. I imagine that when the cushions are thrown together, they will have that glorious ‘shabby chic’ look in a French Provencal fashion.
I have already started this new vintage fabric collection. The two pieces of raspberry cotton, poking out above the violet flowers, in the photograph above are my first buys. Sadly the violet piece was snapped up before my friend could buy it… totally gorgeous and in such perfect condition. She saw it, loved it, but decided to see what else was on offer in the market. By the time we made it back to the stall, it had been sold. Moral of the story when market shopping… browsing is for amateurs. If there is something you like and the price is right, take it. The better brocantes are often where dealers find their treasures… so oftentimes the luxury of ‘thinking about it’ doesn’t exist… I am not suggesting that we let buying frenzy take over… on the contrary… but if there is something that appeals, that fits the collection and the budget, then the idea is to commit to avoid disappointment.
So fabrics are my latest crush… two down and many, many more to go… I imagine it will take the whole of winter and then some to assemble this collection… but that’s fine, I am in no hurry. Are you a vintage fabric lover? Or do you prefer a more streamlined, modern look? I don’t know what has come over me… ever since I bought those Anthropologie plates… xv
