Home Tour Part 1

Periodically I will take you on a quick tour of a home for which Decorative Textiles has made the custom bedding. This master bedroom has a king bed that may look dwarfed by the size of this large room, but yes it is a king. The bed consists of a duvet turn down at the end of the bed, a coverlet with a down fill, two-tiered shirred duster, three 30" shams with chenille trim and 6" ruffle, three 26" pillows with self welt, two 24" pillows with applied fringe and a kidney pillow in the front that is the size of a body pillow with glass beads, two shirred panels on the face and applied trim. All these delicious fabrics have been mixed and matched by the Interior Designer of Patterson Forrest Interior Designers.

Outdoor Pillows

With the hint of spring just around the corner we can start thinking about dusting off the patio furniture and freshening up the cushions and pillows. The selection of outdoor fabrics has come a long way since the blue marine canvas we originally associated with weather durability. Almost every fabric house has a line of fabrics and now even outdoor trims. The technology in the the development of many of these fabrics has becomes so advanced that they can even be used indoors. They have a softness to them never seen in the past.

Gone also is the bumpy, lumpy polyester fill that barely fills out the pillow cover. Clusterfil, a "man made down" has small airy balls of polyester that give a lightness to the fill. When combined with outdoor ticking, you have a durable, weather resistant, luxurious pillow.

Shibori in the Home

Referring to shibori as tie dyeing is like calling paint by number art, but it does serve to get the initial impression going. This ancient Japanese textile art uses the techniques of stitching, pleating, folding and manipulating cloth that is then dyed. The resulting fabric exhibits unique patterns and color.


Undersea 64" x 11.5"............. By Constance Rose .............Urban Ikat 35" x 19"


Shibori fabrics are also incorporated into decorative art quilts. Constance Rose uses the techniques of arashi shibori and handwoven shibori in creating fabulously unique fabrics for her quilted wall art.

Constance Rose: My work is about texture - the way the fiber surfaces feel to the touch, as well as the visual orchestration of pattern, color, line, shape and form. As a surface designer, I am highly intrigued with the serendipitous patterns created on fabric by dyeing, printing and discharging. The foundation of my studio quilting is wholecloth or stitched raw-edge appliqued, handprinted, shibori dyed, discharged or digitally printed fabrics. I am fascinated with overall graphic patterns that make a statement or have a bold presence. I am drawn to muted colors and asymmetrical shapes that evoke the organic natural world. My studio quilts are constructed exclusively of my own surface designed fabrics and my art cloth pieces are handwoven by me. I make all the fabric I work with, by either weaving it, or by printing, painting, dyeing, screening or discharging it.

These beautiful samples of muira shibori are 10" wide and sold by the yard from Kasuri Dyeworks . The three dimensionality of the fabric in both bold turquoise and muted black, burgundy combinations create textural interest and can be incorporated into pillows to add accent any room. The kidney pillow has the shibori fabric in the center, framed by a one inch flat flange and a knife edge.

Donghia has commercially available fabrics that include two shibori designs. Eclipse is a jacquard with the look of a Japanese resist dye shibori creating a circle pattern. The Natural Elegance collection includes 11 shades of 54" upholstery silk appropriately named Shibori which has beautiful monochromatic impressions of geometric shapes.