Last week at a second-hand store I found these three wonderful pieces of couched, embroidered silk. They were scattered around the store, used as “doilies” under much more ordinary objects. I don’t know the origin, but likely they were cut from a dress from Afghanistan, Pakistan, or India. It seemed to me that a pillow top would allow me to save the maximum of the precious parts, and in a way that would make them still “available” for some other, future application. You can never have too many beautiful pillows! Of course, my husband describes my decorating style as “Leave No Surface Unadorned.”
I took some photos, and printed them out on ordinary paper. I used these to plan my cuts and placement. I chose a piece of heavy cotton ottoman-type cloth for the back of the pillow, and cut it somewhat larger than needed. I drew a rectangle in the finished size with chalk, and pinned the assembled top in place. This is definitely a situation where it’s better to stitch, then cut! I trimmed the excess, turned it right side out, stuffed the pillow in, and closed it up. It’s about 16” x 26”. I had very little waste, as you can see. The plaid fabric is what the embroiderer used as a backing.
I think it looks right at home on the couch, which has a slipcover I made of very heavy cotton black and white “random” Ikat. I acquired that fabric, by the way, at the store Rivendell in Santa Cruz, California. (See my June 15 post about current fabric obsessions.)
gorgeous! What a great way to save and enjoy such labor-intense and beautiful work.