Upholstery fabric
Can you use Crewel fabric for upholstery?
Yes! We are regularly asked this question and it is one we enjoy answering because we LOVE the completely classic look of an antique chair enrobed in a sumptuous tree of life crewel design.
The best feeling of all is tracking down an antique chair, taking it back to its bare bones and selecting your own fabric to make a completely unique piece that you have created to fit in your space.
For hunting down antique chairs ready for restoration try antiques markets like www.asfairs.com or www.iacf.co.uk . Or if you don’t fancy the early start and the cold wind whipping across the showground, you can hunt from the comfort of your phone or laptop at www.ebay.com www.1stdibs.com or www.vinterior.co .
If you don’t have the skills or the time to upcycle your own piece, you can work with an experienced crewel upholsterer to bring your vision to life.
Katie Tyler (katie-tyler.co.uk) is based in Herefordshire and takes on commissions as well as creating her own pieces to sell at The Old Electric Shop in Hay On Wye.
Katie upholstered this beautiful footstool using Welland & Wye’s open weave linen Mandlana crewel fabric with Colefax and Fowler’s Arlington Rope and Arlington Bullion Fringe in tomato and olive. https://designs.colefax.com/Design/05408-03
Katie offered us these wise words on working with crewel as an upholstery fabric: “Don’t over-stretch the fabric, it is a natural fibre and should be allowed to move. Also don’t worry about achieving a perfect pattern repeat! It’s far more important to make sure the design flows across different parts of the upholstery in the same direction.”
How about adding a personal touch by selecting your own trims to add definition and detail?
Here, a clever Welland & Wye customer hunted down an end of roll of Phalgam crewel from the Haines Collection (www.hainescollection.com) and used their house linen to outline the beautiful lines of this chair.
