I have had a few emails about the fabrics that I used in my dining room, so I thought I would share my wonderful sources today. I first was introduced to the talents of artist Golly Bard on Poppytalk. Her family gave Holly this nickname as a little girl and it's stuck. Her studio is in a beautifully restored church in Virginia that she shares with an interior designer.
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She works directly from nature; more often, she simply starts painting from memory or her imagination. Her influences have a certain obsession with natural history, nature science and anatomy, but, not in a harsh, educational style. Her paintings are light and sweet, with a whimsical feeling.
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Show me a slice of wood and I am a happy, happy girl. The variations of the colors, the repetitions and explanation of it's age in the rings...I find them simply beautiful.
I knew that I wanted to use her mossy logs somewhere in my house and when I found out that she had created fabric on Spoonflower with her designs, I was thrilled! I sent off for samples of several designs:
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I am saving the delicate fern fabric {middle} for another project. I wanted to use both the nests and the logs in my dining room -- I know it's crazy to use both, but it works. Because these are big, bold designs, I wanted to find a smaller coordinating fabric.
I love this Helicopter Herringbone {zoomed image} by artist Rachel Gilbert Cornish {babysisterrae} also on Spoonflower. I remember playing with these little seed pods as a child in the backyard. We would throw them up as high as we could and watch them twirl softly back down to our sandpile. They are so sweet illustrated individually, but the way she designed this fabric, it made the prettiest herringbone pattern. I knew this would be the perfect compliment to the mossy logs for dining room chair slipcovers.
I found my vintage end chairs about a year and a half ago. I love their silhouette and they were in fairly good condition. So good, that they sat untouched all this time. But, the vintage fabric was starting to shred on the seat and finding the Golly Bard fabrics inspired me to recover them.
The mossy logs went on the exterior of the slipcover.
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And the helicopter on the inside seat and inside back. I love the way the green in the helicopter fabric pulls out the mossy greens of the wood slices.
I don't have a slipcover tutorial because I make a pattern specific for the piece I am covering. I first make a pattern out of another inexpensive fabric. *tip - for my pattern fabric, I always try to use a fabric with stripes or a plaid because it makes lining up the pieces so much easier. Then, I pin, snip and mark as I go.
Then I transfer the pattern to the 'real' fabric. Cut out the pieces, sew them together and pull them over the chair, tucking into the seams for a nice snug fit.
On the other 6 chairs {that I painted green last year} I recovered the seats with a staplegun using the Birds Nest fabric. I love the green paint with the green eggs.
I think all of the fabrics are so pretty together! A huge shout out to Holly and Rachael for creating such beautiful fabrics. You inspire me!
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